Trump’s first term was chaotic and incompetent. But this time, MAGA is prepared with a detailed plan to quickly seize power and ruthlessly reshape America. Project 2025 is a 920-page document authored by Christian nationalists that provides a step-by-step blueprint to impose the MAGA agenda on every aspect of Americans’ lives and make Trumpism the rule of law. Their goal is the elimination of our freedoms and protections: eliminating Social Security and Medicare, corporate regulations, environmental protections, rights for LGBTQ+ people and religious minorities, contraception and IVF, resources we need for public education, and more.  Their plan also includes systematically sabotaging our elections for their own benefit. And they want to dismantle our democracy and its checks and balances by centralizing power to the White House, giving the president control of previously independent agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, and even the Department of Justice. As one expert, Mary Guy, warned in response to Project 2025, "Democracies have crumbled before, and that’s on the verge of happening here." Project 2025 details a concerted plan for how the MAGA movement seeks to control us, decide our futures for us, and take us backward. Instead of representing "We the People", they want to rule over us and for their corporate interests.  We deserve to know where our elected leaders stand on this extreme, dangerous blueprint. It’s time we sound the alarm about this MAGA vision and demand all Republicans in Congress go on record with their position on Project 2025. A banner at a protest against Project 2025 in Washington D.C. on January 27, 2024 (Credit: Elvert Barnes/Flickr.com)

The NFL has a responsibility to show respect to its viewers, including women, men and LQBTQ+. But, by letting Harrison speak like this they are instead promoting hatred towards women and the LGBTQ+ community. This needs to stop. If they don't punish him, they are stating that this behavior is ok and it is not ok. He is inciting hateful and outdated stereotypes, that do nothing but harm people. These stereotypes have been used to keep women and LQBTQ+ from being able to live their lives they way they want and instead forces them to live in constant fear of violence. The NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs need to send a clear message that this hatred can not be tolerated and they can do it by firing and banning Harrison Butker from the NFL. 

Though accusations had been made against Harvey Weinstein long before, they came to a head in 2017 when The New York Times and New Yorker released in-depth stories with accounts of Weinstein’s abuse. Still, it wasn’t until 2020, three years later, that Weinstein was convicted of rape and sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York. He was also convicted of rape in California in 2022, a 16-year sentence that still stands. The New York Court of Appeals shamefully overturned his 2020 conviction, claiming that allowing other women to share testimony of their experiences of sexual harassment and abuse to demonstrate a pattern of behavior should not have been permitted. According to Judge Madeline Singas, this is part of a "disturbing trend" of sexual assault cases being overturned. It also comes just a few years after Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Every 68 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted in the U.S. Only a fraction of perpetrators of sexual assault and violence are held accountable. It is heartbreaking and infuriating that the New York Court of Appeals has twisted the law to let Weinstein, a convicted rapist, walk out of the New York prison. We owe it to the nearly 100 women who risked their livelihoods and careers to come forward— and the countless others who could not come forward—to make sure the charges against Weinstein hold. Ashley Judd, one of the early actresses to bravely share publicly her accusations against Weinstein, said that the Court of Appeals decision was "unfair to survivors," and that "(w)e still live in our truth. And we know what happened." We believe the nearly 100 women who came forward against Weinstein. And together, we can ensure that their efforts to hold Weinstein accountable are upheld by the New York legal system.

Women's sports are winning BIG right now. The 2024 NCAA women's championship game between Iowa State and South Carolina was the most watched basketball game in history. Yet, women basketball players aren't getting properly rewarded for their excellence. After this year's tournament—for the first time ever—the NCAA will award $65 million to participating women's conferences based on the performance of their teams. That's less than HALF of the men's teams $220 million in payouts. While $65 million may seem like a lot, it's a drop in the bucket when compared to some estimates that put the women's team's valuation at $112 million. These payouts provide critical funding to team operations throughout the year for things like scholarships for student-athletes, upgrading training facilities, covering team travel expenses and more. Gender inequality has been baked into the NCAA from the very beginning with media rights agreements and revenue models that have always prioritized men's basketball. A gender equity report in 2021 revealed the NCAA spent a whopping $35 million more on the men's basketball tournament than the women's. And for decades women's teams couldn't even use "March Madness" branding for their tournament. The current system perpetuates the sexist myth that women's sports are less valuable. Women players are showing the world that they are powerful, talented athletes that deserve the same recognition and attention that male athletes have been receiving for decades. We have to show institutions like the NCAA that women deserve to be paid for their talent. Sign the petition to demand that the NCAA address gender pay inequity NOW and increase payout amounts for women basketball players.

The Comstock Act—if enforced—is a law that prohibits the mailing of abortion medication, equipment used for abortion care, and contraceptives through the mail.  Donald Trump and his anti-abortion Attorney General Pam Bondi could enforce this law and therefore restrict access to abortion. That's right: It's a backdoor to an abortion ban—as well as an attack on birth control, which the right wing has its targets set on. Repeal the Comstock Act NOW! Stop anti-abortion extremists' efforts to push a nationwide medication abortion ban and to limit access to birth control and other reproductive health care.

Section 1: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. Section 2: The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Section 3: This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification. The Equal Rights Amendment passed Congress in 1972 and since 2020 has met the three-quarters state ratification requirement necessary for it to go into effect. But because it was not ratified by states within a specific window of time, Republicans in Congress are blocking it from going into effect.  Champions in Congress, including Representatives Ayanna Pressley and Cori Bush, founded the historic Congressional Equal Rights Amendment Caucus and have been working to pass the ERA and have it enshrined into our Constitution. They introduced a joint resolution between the Senate and the House that would affirm the ratification of the ERA, but with Congressional Republicans blocking its passage, we need to show the overwhelming public support for the ERA and demand it be passed before Trump takes office.  The ERA would not have gotten to where it is today if it weren’t for the tireless efforts of everyday people over the past century—and we have to keep up the fight to demand Congress do its job and recognize the ERA as the 28th Amendment and get it published.  “We the people” in the Constitution should include all of us. Honor the century-worth of women and gender-diverse activists who have pushed the ERA forward. Sign the petition to demand Congress recognize the ERA NOW!

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary committee voted to subpoena Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow as part of an ongoing ethics probe into Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito … but then never issued the subpoenas. It’s been over two months. What’s the hold up? Around the initial vote, Republicans like Lindsey Graham and Josh Hawley promised messy, vendetta-filled retaliation if Democrats voted to subpoena their conservative allies. Leo is the chief architect of the right-wing Supreme Court and Harlan Crow is a billionaire GOP mega-donor and close friend of Clarence Thomas. Democrats must continue their SCOTUS ethics probe and issue the subpoenas for Leo and Crow. Leo and Crow’s shady involvement with SCOTUS and certain conservative justices has been heavily reported on, and must be officially investigated. A recent ProPublica expose revealed just how central Leo is to the right-wing’s domination of United States courts. From his post atop the conservative legal think tank The Federalist Society, Leo guided Supreme Court appointments under Bush Jr. and Trump, organized luxury trips for Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, oversaw well over $1.6 billion in funding for right-wing dark money groups, and much more. Then there’s Crow. Over more than two decades, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reportedly accepted luxury trips virtually every year from GOP mega-donor, and billionaire Dallas businessman, Harlan Crow without disclosing them. Between the two of them, Leo’s injection of huge sums into our legal system has led directly to our current right-wing court that’s gutted our reproductive rights, decimated environmental protections, and more. And Crow’s involvement with Thomas raises extreme ethical concerns. Senate Democrats must continue their investigation into Supreme Court corruption and hold Leo and Crow accountable. Sign the petition to Senate Democrats: Issue the subpoenas for Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow. Investigate the extent of corruption on the Supreme Court!

Country music is Black history. Country music, like many, many other genres, was invented by Black people, but racism, gatekeeping, whitewashing, and erasure in country music actively prevents Black artists from getting credit and being celebrated for their work. But this is not new. The latest? Beyoncé dropped two new country singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” and it wasn’t long before the racism, revisionist history, and gatekeeping began. First, Apple Music categorized the songs in the “Pop music” category when the songs are clearly country. And when fans started requesting Beyoncé’s new songs at their local country stations, many of their requests were rejected. One station, KYKC, even responded to a fan’s request saying “We do not play Beyonce on KYKC as we are a country music station." The country music industry must finally reckon with its own racism and anti-Blackness, celebrate the roots of country in Black history, and celebrate Black artists reclaiming a genre they birthed. A study discovered that out of 11,000+ songs played on country radio from 2002 to 2020, only 3% of those were from Black and brown artists, and of that 3%, only ⅓ were from Black and brown women. That means that Black and brown women represented only 0.001% of songs played by country radio over the course of 18 years. It’s outrageous, but unfortunately, unsurprising. This has to end NOW. The banjo, one of the central instruments in country music, originated in Africa and was brought to the United States by enslaved African people. White people then appropriated the banjo and began using it for minstrel shows, where they would wear Blackface and mock Black people and Black culture. It's disgusting and dehumanizing. This led to the rise of hillbilly music as a marketing category, which became associated with a white, rural, Southern audience. That’s when “race records” were created to segregate Black people out of the genre that they created, and music executives refused to let Black folks record songs that they deemed to be “hillbilly,” purposefully white-washing the genre even further. This history of country music shows how Jim Crow segregation harmed Black country music artists then, and still harms them today. Black music artists like Beyoncé are reclaiming country, a genre that was theirs to begin with. And we need to be in solidarity with them and challenge the status quo to pave the way for Black people to get a seat at a table that they created. We can’t sit idly by and watch this continue. Getting the country music industry---from radio stations to awards to other prominent artists---to honor Beyoncé’s new songs as country is just one small step to bringing about change. But with Beyoncé being the biggest artist in the world, this is an opportunity for us to keep pushing, educating, and fighting for change, and the impacts of our advocacy will pave the way for other Black country artists for generations to come. Will you take action now and sign the petition?

Country music is Black history. Country music, like many, many other genres, was invented by Black people, but racism, gatekeeping, whitewashing, and erasure in country music actively prevents Black artists from getting credit and being celebrated for their work. But this is not new. The latest? Beyoncé dropped two new country singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” and it wasn’t long before the racism, revisionist history, and gatekeeping began. First, Apple Music categorized the songs in the “Pop music” category when the songs are clearly country. And when fans started requesting Beyoncé’s new songs at their local country stations, many of their requests were rejected. One station, KYKC, even responded to a fan’s request saying “We do not play Beyonce on KYKC as we are a country music station." The country music industry must finally reckon with its own racism and anti-Blackness, celebrate the roots of country in Black history, and celebrate Black artists reclaiming a genre they birthed. A study discovered that out of 11,000+ songs played on country radio from 2002 to 2020, only 3% of those were from Black and brown artists, and of that 3%, only ⅓ were from Black and brown women. That means that Black and brown women represented only 0.001% of songs played by country radio over the course of 18 years. It’s outrageous, but unfortunately, unsurprising. This has to end NOW. In 2016, Beyoncé performed at the CMA awards and invited The Chicks to join her on stage to sing “Daddy Lessons.” The incredible performance was met with backlash from racist conservatives who said Beyoncé wasn’t “country enough” and didn’t belong. They felt the need to “protect” the genre from artists like Beyoncé (who has always been country). The day after the performance, fans noticed that there was no mention of Beyoncé, The Chicks, or their rendition of “Daddy Lessons” on the CMA website or social accounts, despite posting other performances from the night before, which made it seem like they were caving to the backlash from racist conservatives. Around 4:35 p.m after fans called them out, they finally shared the performance on its page. The CMA has a chance to make this right. Will you sign the petition to demand that they invite Beyoncé to perform at this year’s awards? The banjo, one of the central instruments in country music, originated in Africa and was brought to the United States by enslaved African people. White people then appropriated the banjo and began using it for minstrel shows, where they would wear Blackface and mock Black people and Black culture. It's disgusting and dehumanizing. This led to the rise of hillbilly music as a marketing category, which became associated with a white, rural, Southern audience. That’s when “race records” were created to segregate Black people out of the genre that they created, and music executives refused to let Black folks record songs that they deemed to be “hillbilly,” purposefully white-washing the genre even further. This history of country music shows how Jim Crow segregation harmed Black country music artists then, and still harms them today. Black music artists like Beyoncé are reclaiming country, a genre that was theirs to begin with. And we need to be in solidarity with them and challenge the status quo to pave the way for Black people to get a seat at a table that they created. We can’t sit idly by and watch this continue. Getting the country music industry---from radio stations to awards to other prominent artists---to honor Beyoncé’s new songs as country is just one small step to bringing about change. But with Beyoncé being the biggest artist in the world, this is an opportunity for us to keep pushing, educating, and fighting for change, and the impacts of our advocacy will pave the way for other Black country artists for generations to come. Will you take action now and sign the petition?

In addition to the companies that have unleashed the technology the enables deepfakes, hosting and cloud computing providers like Amazon have continued to provide the infrastructure needed to run large websites specializing in non-consensual deepfake porn, even though the harm they;re doing has become clear. They, too, are part of the problem. Normally, when a company releases products that cause unexpected harm, they’re responsible for fixing it. Like when Toyota found it had cars on the road with faulty gas pedals that could result in crashes, or when Samsung got reports of Galaxy smartphones overheating and catching fire, they recalled their products. Tech companies releasing, distributing, and hosting content generated by cutting edge AI technology should not be an exception. Now that deepfakes have become a major media story, you have Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, saying “we have to act,” while not specifying or committing to real action—and with most other tech leaders remaining completely silent. There are good conversations in the AI safety community about what the best approaches are for reining in deepfakes, but until the tech companies at the root of the problem act, it will be meaningless. Some parts of solving the problem are harder than others, but there is plenty that can and should be done right now: - AI companies (like Microsoft) should stop releasing software that has been shown to create harmful, non-consensual deepfakes, until they can prove that it is safe. - Social media platforms (like Facebook and Twitter/X) should take much stronger steps to detect deepfakes; freeze accounts that appear to have distributed harmful, non-consensual deepfakes; and permanently ban those that have been determined to have done so. - Cloud providers (like Amazon) should drop large websites that are clearly and overtly in the business of creating and distributing non-consensual deepfakes. Congress is now working on The DEFIANCE Act of 2024, which would make it a crime to produce and distribute non-consensual deepfake images, audio, and video–an important part of what’s needed and which Sexual Violence Prevention Association has recently started a campaign to support. But Congress has yet to hold accountable the tech companies that are at the core of the problem, and that control the means of production and distribution of deepfakes. These companies have poured billions into the technology that makes deepfake creation and sharing possible. It’s time they prioritize addressing the harms they’ve created as a result, and invest in making such technology safe from causing harm. Until they can demonstrate that a baseline level of safety has been achieved, with no one in the future being subjected to what Taylor Swift and others currently are experiencing, these companies need to do all that’s in their power to stop the harm created by the spread of non-consensual deepfakes.

We need to take a stand and help those who have been assaulted. They matter and we need to help make a safer community. So many do not speak up because its painful and justice does not prevail.

Why was Congressman Trone so dismissive, insulting and ignorant in his interaction with Dr. Marsha Adebayo at a recent MLK event. She asked to talk to him about the Bethesda Road Moses African Cemetery and efforts to reclaim the land to memorialize the lives of enslaved and post-emancipated African Community. Instead of engaging, he dismissed her with a wave of his hand and a turn of his back saying" who cares about that little cemetery?" I care about that "little Cemetery," and I don't care to have a person with David Trone's historical ignorance and dismissiveness towards African American struggles influencing our community. The people in the "little cemetery were human beings and they deserve respect. Most of those buried in the "little" cemetery were children who were kidnapped, raped, murdered and worked to death in Bethesda, Maryland. Why are we still debating whether Black Lives Matter? We need the community to speak out against Congressman Trone's statement. David Mott - retired union organizer, Poor People's Campaign, Montgomery County Contact: bethesdaafricancemeterycoalition.net