Alright it's been a few years since I've updated this blog but I'm back with more opinions than ever for all my fans and dissenters.
It's been an interesting time to transition into college. The last two years have been particularly difficult, as I've found myself struggling to find hope and agency while governed by an administration that would have voices like mine silenced by hook or by crook. However, I have the privilege of citizenship, and I have a voice. With the midterm elections just around the corner, I've vowed to use my voice on behalf of those who do not have a say in the elections but nonetheless have very high stakes in the outcomes.
For everyone else struggling with me to assert their agency and use their voices, I've done the legwork to assemble a handbook with as many helpful links and instructions as I could compile. This is by no means an exhaustive list of everything you can do as a citizen, but this is a starting point and running list (I will be constantly updating this post over the next few months) for anyone who would like to engage more deeply with our political climate. I've tried to organize this by political issues so that you can make the greatest impact where you feel most strongly. Thank you for taking initiative this year and taking change into your own hands.
First off, are you registered to vote??? Check here. VOTE VOTE VOTEEEEEEE.
Actions to take for Midterm Elections:
Special thanks to Sheela Lal for some simple steps to get started:
Or get your absentee ballot!
Some other great resources:
5 Calls - pick the issues you care about, read the scripts, start talking to your reps! I can't recommend 5 Calls enough, it's truly as simple as that to get started!
Alternatively, call your Congressional representatives on your own:
Find your Senators here.
Find your Representative here.
CALLS MATTER. Every single day, your senators and representative and their senior staff get a report of the three most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices, and exactly how many people said what about each of those topics. They're also sorted by ZIP code and area code.
Amnesty International's call for urgent action - letters you can write and calls you can make that impact lives and well-being almost immediately.
Now for a few specific topics and actions you can take immediately.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
What's happening:
The acting Assistant Secretary for the HHS's Administration for Children and Families, Steven Wagner, admitted under pressure in a congressional testimony that the HHS does not keep track of unaccompanied minors who do not show up at their immigration court hearings. 1,475 children, largely "unaccompanied minor" (separated from their parents when apprehended crossing the border) immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, are unaccounted for. Some may have been adopted and their new families may be keeping them under the radar due to their immigration status, but others, there is abundant evidence to believe, may be at risk for trafficking and abuse.
Between October 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018, at least 2,700 children have been split from their parents. The Trump administration has adopted a zero-tolerance policy toward anyone caught crossing into the US by Border Patrol. All border crossers are to be referred to the Department of Justice, and everyone referred would be prosecuted for the misdemeanor of illegal entry. And when parents are transferred to criminal custody, their children get treated as “unaccompanied minors,” by border patrol. In a report released in May, the ACLU detailed 116 incidents that took place between 2009 and 2014 where officers were alleged to have physically, sexually, or psychologically abused children between the ages of five and 17.
After "unaccompanied minors" arrive in the United States, often to reunite with family members or to flee violence or poverty in their home countries, they are typically transferred from border patrol or customs officers to the custody of HHS, which often reunites the minors with a relative or another sponsor. The department is supposed to place check-in phone calls 30 days after a minor’s placement, but between October and December 2017, he said, the agency was unable to locate almost 1,475 out of the 7,635 minors that it attempted to reach — or about 19 percent. Over two dozen had run away, according to Wagner, who said the agency did not have the capacity to track them down.
What you can do:
Kavanaugh's Supreme Court Nomination
First off I am of the opinion that anyone wanting to know anything about the Supreme Court should start with the epic RBG documentary. It's still in theaters!! That should be at the top of your civic engagement list. Just kidding. Not really.
What's Happening:
Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh is an attorney, judge, Republican political appointee and the author of numerous legal opinions, lectures, transcripts, emails and policies. The record contains everything from his testimony about Bush era torture policies to his various stances on whether a president can be compelled to testify before a special counsel. He has written that a sitting President should not be able to be indicted, and can fire whoever is investigating him whenever he pleases. Moreover, Kavanaugh gave a speech last year praising the dissent in Roe v. Wade, proving that he may be a significant threat to women's healthcare rights. He also criticized the rationale for upholding the Affordable Care Act and didn't rule in favor of the law in 2011. If Kavanaugh votes to overturn ACA, insurance companies could charge more or refuse coverage for the 130 million people in America with "pre-existing conditions", specifically transgender Americans and those living with HIV and AIDS.
Several activist groups have demanded a thorough investigation of Kavanaugh's full body of works and a release of these documents to the American public before he is granted a confirmation vote on the Senate floor. However, on July 18th, Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley made clear he has little intention of doing so, saying he intends to only probe "relevant" documents. It appears that Grassley is choosing to push this nominee through in secrecy, attempting to ignore large portions of Kavanaugh’s record. This decision seems to indicate Crassley would rather avoid the emergence of any controversial issue in Kavanaugh's record and have him confirmed well before midterm election results could reduce the Republican party's ability to force the acceptance of a nominee.
What you can do:
(202) 224-3954
Joe Donnely (IN)
(202) 224-4814
Heidi Heitkamp (ND)
(202) 224-2043
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
(202) 224-6665
Susan Collins (ME)
(202) 224-2523
Doug Jones (AL)
(202) 224-4124
Gun Control and 3D Printed Gun Blueprints
What's Happening:
Americans are 25 times more likely to die from gun homicide than people in other wealthy countries. The United States has more guns per capita than any other peer nation; Americans constitute about 4% of the world's population but own 42% of all civilian firearms. On average, there is a mass shooting almost every day of the year in the United States. We have far higher rates of gun homicides than any other developed nation, and suicides comprise the majority of our gun-related deaths. Thanks to continued lobbying by the National Rifle Association (NRA), Congress has repeatedly failed to take meaningful action and curb gun violence.
Abused women are 5 times more likely to be killed by their abuser if the abuser has access to a gun. Although keeping guns out of abusers' hands reduces gun violence, major loopholes in federal gun safety laws allow abusers to readily access firearms. For example, federal law does not consider an assault domestic violence if the abuser and victim were in a dating relationship without living together or having a child together. This "boyfriend loophole" leaves thousands of abusers able to legally purchase guns to use against their victims.
Also, although it is well known that stalking is a reliable predictor of future violent behavior (76% of women murdered and 85% who survived a murder attempt by a current or former intimate partner experienced stalking according to one study), federal law does not consider misdemeanor stalking as a serious enough crime to limit an abuser’s access to guns.
Furthermore, federal law does nothing to restrict an abuser’s access to guns during the most dangerous time for victims of domestic violence, the period when a victim has left their abuser and filed for a Temporary Restraining Order. Until the restraining order is permanent, violent abusers can easily buy and use a firearm.
In 2013, a self-proclaimed anarchist organization, Defense Distributed, began providing online blueprints for 3D printing plastic firearms. The federal government quickly blocked the distribution of these blueprints, citing international export laws. However, the Trump administration’s State Department has reversed this decision by settling a lawsuit with Defense Distributed. As of August 1st, Defense Distributed and other organizations and individuals will be able to share free, 3D-printable plastic gun blueprints online. Online blueprints will be available for a wide variety of guns, including the AR-15 which have been commonly used in mass shootings. Defense Distributed has hailed this development as “the death of gun control,” and gun control advocates agree. With these blueprints available online anyone with a 3D printer—including children, convicted domestic abusers, and others who would have no way to buy guns legally—will be able to build their own untraceable, deadly weapon.
To address this new threat, Democrats have introduced the Undetectable Firearms Modernization Act (H.R. 2033 and S. 533) to both chambers of Congress. The bill strengthens existing restrictions on untraceable guns to cover 3D-printed plastic firearms.
What You Can Do:
2. Instituting universal background checks for ammo and gun buyers, a measure 80% of gun owners support
3. Funding evidence-based community anti-violence programs, like Ceasefire, which have been shown to reduce shootings
4. Reinstating a federal ban on the purchase of high-capacity magazines and military-style assault weapons, which is supported by at least 65% of Americans.
Choose a few (1-3) of the above policies then thank them for their effort in answering all the phone calls.
Climate Change
What's Happening:
To date, the Trump administration has sought to reverse more than 70 environmental rules, according to a New York Times analysis - read up on what has been changed, why it matters, and what is next on its way out here. The environmental rollbacks could lead to at least 80,000 extra deaths per decade and cause respiratory problems for more than one million people, according to a recent analysis conducted by researchers from Harvard University. That number, however, is likely to be “a major underestimate of the global public health impact," according to Francesca Dominici, a professor of biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Most recently, the Trump administration has announced it intends to revoke California's ability under the Clean Air Act to regulate cars' greenhouse gas emissions and plans to set less stringent federal standards for fuel efficiency. The administration is significantly undermining California's attempts to regulate car emissions and slow climate change.
The EPA is expected to announce significantly less stringent standards for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy for cars. They are likely to frame this as a reduced burden on manufactures and dealerships, but this is an extremely high cost proposition. While the original regulations set in motion by the Obama administration aimed to increase vehicle efficiency to an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by the end of 2025, the EPA is expected to revisit these standards and release new, significantly relaxed regulations next week.
Moreover, the Trump administration has made several proposed and effective changes to the environmental policy. This is a fantastic resource from the National Geographic that keeps track of all the ways the environment is in danger under the current administration if this is something you want to keep tabs on. I've included some of the recent highlights below.
The Trump administration unveiled a proposal two weeks ago that would make several key changes to the Endangered Species Act—the 1973 law that has served as a bulwark against the bald eagle's extinction, among thousands of other species.
Furthermore, the Trump administration has ended NASA's Carbon Monitoring System, a $10-million-per-year effort to fund pilot programs intended to improve the monitoring of global carbon emissions. The CMS was particularly relevant to the global Paris Agreement, especially for verifying whether the nations of the world are actually meeting their pledges to reduce carbon emissions.
What you can do:
If you've made it this far, thank you for reading, and thank you for your desire to evoke change. It is often hard to keep sight of the impact you can make amidst this barrage of overwhelming, often hopeless news, but just know that you are not alone. People like you are why there is still hope :)
Lots of love, and get out the vote!!
Zoha
P.S Here is a google doc of alllll the sources.
It's been an interesting time to transition into college. The last two years have been particularly difficult, as I've found myself struggling to find hope and agency while governed by an administration that would have voices like mine silenced by hook or by crook. However, I have the privilege of citizenship, and I have a voice. With the midterm elections just around the corner, I've vowed to use my voice on behalf of those who do not have a say in the elections but nonetheless have very high stakes in the outcomes.
For everyone else struggling with me to assert their agency and use their voices, I've done the legwork to assemble a handbook with as many helpful links and instructions as I could compile. This is by no means an exhaustive list of everything you can do as a citizen, but this is a starting point and running list (I will be constantly updating this post over the next few months) for anyone who would like to engage more deeply with our political climate. I've tried to organize this by political issues so that you can make the greatest impact where you feel most strongly. Thank you for taking initiative this year and taking change into your own hands.
First off, are you registered to vote??? Check here. VOTE VOTE VOTEEEEEEE.
Actions to take for Midterm Elections:
Special thanks to Sheela Lal for some simple steps to get started:
- Knock for candidates or issues
- Go to forums and ask questions
- Send postcards to voters
- Learn about issues and talk to your neighbors, co-workers, and strangers to build community
- Volunteer to drive folks to vote
Or get your absentee ballot!
Some other great resources:
5 Calls - pick the issues you care about, read the scripts, start talking to your reps! I can't recommend 5 Calls enough, it's truly as simple as that to get started!
Alternatively, call your Congressional representatives on your own:
Find your Senators here.
Find your Representative here.
CALLS MATTER. Every single day, your senators and representative and their senior staff get a report of the three most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices, and exactly how many people said what about each of those topics. They're also sorted by ZIP code and area code.
Amnesty International's call for urgent action - letters you can write and calls you can make that impact lives and well-being almost immediately.
Now for a few specific topics and actions you can take immediately.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
What's happening:
The acting Assistant Secretary for the HHS's Administration for Children and Families, Steven Wagner, admitted under pressure in a congressional testimony that the HHS does not keep track of unaccompanied minors who do not show up at their immigration court hearings. 1,475 children, largely "unaccompanied minor" (separated from their parents when apprehended crossing the border) immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, are unaccounted for. Some may have been adopted and their new families may be keeping them under the radar due to their immigration status, but others, there is abundant evidence to believe, may be at risk for trafficking and abuse.
Between October 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018, at least 2,700 children have been split from their parents. The Trump administration has adopted a zero-tolerance policy toward anyone caught crossing into the US by Border Patrol. All border crossers are to be referred to the Department of Justice, and everyone referred would be prosecuted for the misdemeanor of illegal entry. And when parents are transferred to criminal custody, their children get treated as “unaccompanied minors,” by border patrol. In a report released in May, the ACLU detailed 116 incidents that took place between 2009 and 2014 where officers were alleged to have physically, sexually, or psychologically abused children between the ages of five and 17.
After "unaccompanied minors" arrive in the United States, often to reunite with family members or to flee violence or poverty in their home countries, they are typically transferred from border patrol or customs officers to the custody of HHS, which often reunites the minors with a relative or another sponsor. The department is supposed to place check-in phone calls 30 days after a minor’s placement, but between October and December 2017, he said, the agency was unable to locate almost 1,475 out of the 7,635 minors that it attempted to reach — or about 19 percent. Over two dozen had run away, according to Wagner, who said the agency did not have the capacity to track them down.
What you can do:
- Contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives to find out what they are doing to hold the DHS accountable. Simply say, “I am outraged by how our government is treating children at the border. What is my Senator/Rep doing about this?” Or use 5 Calls!
- The ACLU is gathering signatures to petition Kevin K. McAleenan, Commissioner of United States Customs and Border Protection to stop the government from abusing immigrant children.
- You can contact ICE directly at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE.
- You can contact the UN Office for Human Rights here and tell them that the actions the Department of Homeland Security is taking do not comply with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' recommended guidelines for human rights at international borders.
Kavanaugh's Supreme Court Nomination
First off I am of the opinion that anyone wanting to know anything about the Supreme Court should start with the epic RBG documentary. It's still in theaters!! That should be at the top of your civic engagement list. Just kidding. Not really.
What's Happening:
Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh is an attorney, judge, Republican political appointee and the author of numerous legal opinions, lectures, transcripts, emails and policies. The record contains everything from his testimony about Bush era torture policies to his various stances on whether a president can be compelled to testify before a special counsel. He has written that a sitting President should not be able to be indicted, and can fire whoever is investigating him whenever he pleases. Moreover, Kavanaugh gave a speech last year praising the dissent in Roe v. Wade, proving that he may be a significant threat to women's healthcare rights. He also criticized the rationale for upholding the Affordable Care Act and didn't rule in favor of the law in 2011. If Kavanaugh votes to overturn ACA, insurance companies could charge more or refuse coverage for the 130 million people in America with "pre-existing conditions", specifically transgender Americans and those living with HIV and AIDS.
Several activist groups have demanded a thorough investigation of Kavanaugh's full body of works and a release of these documents to the American public before he is granted a confirmation vote on the Senate floor. However, on July 18th, Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley made clear he has little intention of doing so, saying he intends to only probe "relevant" documents. It appears that Grassley is choosing to push this nominee through in secrecy, attempting to ignore large portions of Kavanaugh’s record. This decision seems to indicate Crassley would rather avoid the emergence of any controversial issue in Kavanaugh's record and have him confirmed well before midterm election results could reduce the Republican party's ability to force the acceptance of a nominee.
What you can do:
- Call these six key senators that the vote to confirm Kavanaugh hinges on, even if they're not your senators. Tell them to vote "no" on this Supreme Court nomination:
(202) 224-3954
Joe Donnely (IN)
(202) 224-4814
Heidi Heitkamp (ND)
(202) 224-2043
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
(202) 224-6665
Susan Collins (ME)
(202) 224-2523
Doug Jones (AL)
(202) 224-4124
- Moreover, you can call the Senate Judiciary Committee at (202) 224-5225 to ask that the committee commit to a thorough review of Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s extensive body of work before referring his nomination to the full Senate.
Gun Control and 3D Printed Gun Blueprints
What's Happening:
Americans are 25 times more likely to die from gun homicide than people in other wealthy countries. The United States has more guns per capita than any other peer nation; Americans constitute about 4% of the world's population but own 42% of all civilian firearms. On average, there is a mass shooting almost every day of the year in the United States. We have far higher rates of gun homicides than any other developed nation, and suicides comprise the majority of our gun-related deaths. Thanks to continued lobbying by the National Rifle Association (NRA), Congress has repeatedly failed to take meaningful action and curb gun violence.
Abused women are 5 times more likely to be killed by their abuser if the abuser has access to a gun. Although keeping guns out of abusers' hands reduces gun violence, major loopholes in federal gun safety laws allow abusers to readily access firearms. For example, federal law does not consider an assault domestic violence if the abuser and victim were in a dating relationship without living together or having a child together. This "boyfriend loophole" leaves thousands of abusers able to legally purchase guns to use against their victims.
Also, although it is well known that stalking is a reliable predictor of future violent behavior (76% of women murdered and 85% who survived a murder attempt by a current or former intimate partner experienced stalking according to one study), federal law does not consider misdemeanor stalking as a serious enough crime to limit an abuser’s access to guns.
Furthermore, federal law does nothing to restrict an abuser’s access to guns during the most dangerous time for victims of domestic violence, the period when a victim has left their abuser and filed for a Temporary Restraining Order. Until the restraining order is permanent, violent abusers can easily buy and use a firearm.
In 2013, a self-proclaimed anarchist organization, Defense Distributed, began providing online blueprints for 3D printing plastic firearms. The federal government quickly blocked the distribution of these blueprints, citing international export laws. However, the Trump administration’s State Department has reversed this decision by settling a lawsuit with Defense Distributed. As of August 1st, Defense Distributed and other organizations and individuals will be able to share free, 3D-printable plastic gun blueprints online. Online blueprints will be available for a wide variety of guns, including the AR-15 which have been commonly used in mass shootings. Defense Distributed has hailed this development as “the death of gun control,” and gun control advocates agree. With these blueprints available online anyone with a 3D printer—including children, convicted domestic abusers, and others who would have no way to buy guns legally—will be able to build their own untraceable, deadly weapon.
To address this new threat, Democrats have introduced the Undetectable Firearms Modernization Act (H.R. 2033 and S. 533) to both chambers of Congress. The bill strengthens existing restrictions on untraceable guns to cover 3D-printed plastic firearms.
What You Can Do:
- Call your House representative. Urge them to take action to reduce the epidemic of gun violence by:
2. Instituting universal background checks for ammo and gun buyers, a measure 80% of gun owners support
3. Funding evidence-based community anti-violence programs, like Ceasefire, which have been shown to reduce shootings
4. Reinstating a federal ban on the purchase of high-capacity magazines and military-style assault weapons, which is supported by at least 65% of Americans.
Choose a few (1-3) of the above policies then thank them for their effort in answering all the phone calls.
- Call your House representative to ask them to support HR 2670 the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act, and HR 3207 the Zero Tolerance for Domestic Abusers Act. Congress must act now to close dangerous loopholes in gun laws that allow perpetrators of domestic abuse access to deadly firearms.
- Call your Senator to ask them to support S 1539, the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act. Congress must act now to close dangerous loopholes in gun laws that allow perpetrators of domestic abuse access to deadly firearms.
Climate Change
What's Happening:
To date, the Trump administration has sought to reverse more than 70 environmental rules, according to a New York Times analysis - read up on what has been changed, why it matters, and what is next on its way out here. The environmental rollbacks could lead to at least 80,000 extra deaths per decade and cause respiratory problems for more than one million people, according to a recent analysis conducted by researchers from Harvard University. That number, however, is likely to be “a major underestimate of the global public health impact," according to Francesca Dominici, a professor of biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Most recently, the Trump administration has announced it intends to revoke California's ability under the Clean Air Act to regulate cars' greenhouse gas emissions and plans to set less stringent federal standards for fuel efficiency. The administration is significantly undermining California's attempts to regulate car emissions and slow climate change.
The EPA is expected to announce significantly less stringent standards for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy for cars. They are likely to frame this as a reduced burden on manufactures and dealerships, but this is an extremely high cost proposition. While the original regulations set in motion by the Obama administration aimed to increase vehicle efficiency to an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by the end of 2025, the EPA is expected to revisit these standards and release new, significantly relaxed regulations next week.
Moreover, the Trump administration has made several proposed and effective changes to the environmental policy. This is a fantastic resource from the National Geographic that keeps track of all the ways the environment is in danger under the current administration if this is something you want to keep tabs on. I've included some of the recent highlights below.
The Trump administration unveiled a proposal two weeks ago that would make several key changes to the Endangered Species Act—the 1973 law that has served as a bulwark against the bald eagle's extinction, among thousands of other species.
Furthermore, the Trump administration has ended NASA's Carbon Monitoring System, a $10-million-per-year effort to fund pilot programs intended to improve the monitoring of global carbon emissions. The CMS was particularly relevant to the global Paris Agreement, especially for verifying whether the nations of the world are actually meeting their pledges to reduce carbon emissions.
What you can do:
- Call your local House representative to ensure that current greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy standards for automobiles are kept in place, as environmental protection is more important than cost-cutting for manufacturers. Congress has the power to set federal regulation of air quality standards.
- Also, share your opinion with lawmakers directly on https://www.regulations.gov where several proposed changes are posted and await public comment for 60 days before they are voted on or go into effect.
If you've made it this far, thank you for reading, and thank you for your desire to evoke change. It is often hard to keep sight of the impact you can make amidst this barrage of overwhelming, often hopeless news, but just know that you are not alone. People like you are why there is still hope :)
Lots of love, and get out the vote!!
Zoha
P.S Here is a google doc of alllll the sources.