President Trumps' first week in office has been a disaster for the interests and values of the American People he was elected to serve. Executive Order after Executive Order have been initiated by him to divide the American people, instead of his promised efforts to unite us. His latest refugee ban has eroded the confidence of the Western World, and is contrary to our core values as Americans. MILLIONS of us must speak out: he must resign!

Keith Ellison for DNC chair

I am an attorney who previously served in Africa as a refugee rights attorney. I am also just an ordinary human being, distraught at the fascist-leaning policies of the Trump Administration.

This bill would create an undue burden on law enforcement officers, the prison or jail systems in their communities, and the surrounding communities. Each inmate in the Department of Corrections costs the State of Virginia approximately $25,129 annually, so each individual who is held for an undetermined amount of time, is costing taxpayers over that time. Additionally, this legislation will ultimately have a chilling effect within immigrant communities, which are already targets for crime, leading to victims in those communities not reporting crimes such as theft or assault because of fear of the implication for detention and deportation. Vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, and women are the ones who suffer most in these circumstances. The bill can be read here: https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1468

President Trump has displayed a dangerous pattern of pandering to anti-Semitic tropes. He has: » Retweeted a blatantly anti-Semitic image that originated on a neo-Nazi website¹. » Revived and repeated the long standing anti-Semitic conspiracy of a global banking cabal². » Pointedly and unapologetically did not mention the murder of 6 million Jews in his Holocaust Remembrance Day statement³. » Brought into the White House and elevated to a position of power Steve Bannon, a man well known for flirting with anti-Semitism⁴ ⁵. Rabbi Marvin Hier has an obligation to speak out because: » He is a highly prominent rabbi and community leader, known for his voice of moral clarity⁶ ⁷. » He is the Founder, President and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center; an organization whose express mission is to confront anti-Semetism & hate in the world and to teach “the lessons of the Holocaust for future generations”⁸. » He spoke and delivered a prayer at Trump’s inauguration⁹ ¹⁰. Given all this, Rabbi Marvin Hier’s silence on this important issue cannot help but be interpreted as granting a fig leaf of morality where none is deserved. Having taken on the role of defending the memory of those murdered in the Holocaust and ensuring that future generations never forget the twin lessons of tolerance and the danger of silence, now is time for you to take a stand. Dear Rabbi Hier, in these troubled times your voice is sorely needed. ---- [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/us/politics/donald-trumps-star-of-david-tweet-came-from-a-fringe-website-a-report-says.html [2] http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-rolls-out-anti-semitic-closing-ad [3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/28/white-house-defends-trump-holocaust-statement-that-didnt-mention-jews [4] https://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/13/white-nationalist-who-hates-jews-will-be-trumps-right-hand-man-white-house/214419 [5] http://www.timesofisrael.com/stephen-bannon-5-things-jews-need-to-know/ [6] http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=4441311 [7] http://www.newsweek.com/50-most-influential-rabbis-america-73545 [8] http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=4441471 [9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nxAi9WEf5g [10] http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/222375/trumps-inauguration-rabbi-facing-criticism-defends-his-choice

Although the fossil fuel industry, including SoCal Gas, continues to delay action, deny science, and destroy our health and climate, the people are waking up to say "Keep It In the Ground!"

President Donald Trump insists that 3-4 million votes were cast illegally during the 2016 presidential election. This constitutes mass electoral fraud, and if the election results are allowed to stand then all of us Americans have been cheated out of free and fair elections. The only way to restore the integrity of our electoral system is to demand that the results of the election be nullified immediately, that Trump be removed from office immediately, and that new elections (with the same two candidates on the ballot) be called for.

It is time we ended the divisive political and social fights over civil rights that we are all entitled to. We need to end discrimination in all forms, and extend justice and humanity to all residents of the United States, whether citizen or not.

Steve Bannon is a dangerous right-wing extremist, and Donald Trump just gave him a seat at the most powerful table in the world. The National Security Council is a group of the president's most senior military, diplomatic, and intelligence advisors, or at least it's supposed to be. Under a directive issued on Saturday by Donald Trump, Steve Bannon—the "alt-right," white-nationalist chief strategist to the president—has been appointed to the inner circle of the NSC, while the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence have been relegated to attend NSC meetings on an "as needed" basis. This unprecedented move politicizes our national security far beyond what George W. Bush and Karl Rove did, and it opens the door to even more disastrous efforts like the Iraq War and the Patriot Act—or much worse. Thankfully, Congress has the power to stop this. Congress created the National Security Council and as recently as last year passed legislation regulating it. Right now, members of Congress are drafting legislation to keep Steve Bannon off the National Security Council and protect the independence of our national security from Donald Trump's political meddling. This isn't just about sending a message. Bannon is reportedly the driving force behind the extreme, un-American executive orders Trump has issued in his first week in office. In fact, according to CNN, Bannon personally spearheaded Trump's order banning all immigrants and visa holders from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S., and slamming America's door to all refugees indefinitely. Congress must immediately undo this politicization of America's national security. Bannon represents the worst of the Trump administration's hardliners. He has made a career out of facilitating the rise of white nationalism, argued that being perceived as evil is a source of political power, has been praised by the KKK and neo-Nazis, and more. All signs suggest that Bannon believes deeply in the so-called clash of civilizations and that the United States needs to be made into a hub for a new kind of right-wing populism centering on white identity politics. We cannot let this vision be the beating heart of our nation's national security policy. We know that this is terrifying. But the amazing mobilization of our movement over the past 10 days shows that we have the power to stop this. Millions of us have taken to the streets: from the unprecedented Women's March to the actions across the country at airports that helped reunite families torn apart by Trump's Muslim ban. Now it's time to keep the architect of Donald Trump's hateful and dangerous agenda away from America's national security. Take two minutes to make sure your members of Congress hear loudly and clearly that they must act.

President Trump’s discriminatory immigration executive order, which shut out legal immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries and suspended the Refugee Admissions Program, violates the intent of the Constitution and of international treaties to protect refugees and prevent discrimination to which the U.S. is signatory. The executive order has created chaos and fear among refugees and immigrants who have been legally admitted to the U.S., and to their families, including to U.S. citizens. If the executive order is allowed to stand, it will undermine protections for refugees and immigrants worldwide. For many of us, the fact that we are U.S. citizens today - indeed, the mere fact that we are alive - is the result of the fact that our parents or grandparents were admitted to the U.S. as immigrants or refugees in the past. Legislation is being introduced in the House and Senate to overturn the executive order. House Democrats, including Reps. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), are introducing the "Statute of Liberty Values Act" which states that President Trump’s executive order will have no effect or force of law and that no funds shall be used to implement the order. Senator Feinstein is introducing similar legislation in the Senate. Urge your Senators and Representative to support this legislation to overturn the Trump immigration executive order by signing our petition.

The peaceful, inspiring, broad-based resistance to Trump and his shocking, unconstitutional, and immoral agenda will continue to stand up, fight, and lead. The people are in the streets. We're doing our job. But now we need Senate Democrats to step up and do their job. Senators need to do everything in their power to stop all Senate business and to refuse all Cabinet and Supreme Court nominees—until we stop Trump's un-American, unconstitutional agenda, including his Muslim ban. The public—the majority of which voted decisively against Trump—is demanding clear, principled, and total opposition to the Trump Administration's extreme, unconstitutional, and unprecedented agenda and executive orders. We need Senate Democrats to get the message  to take extraordinary steps— and quickly. To their credit, some Senate Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Chuck Schumer, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Bob Casey (among others) attended airport and other protest rallies this weekend. That they went to where grassroots energy was surging is an important step, and they should be commended for it. More recently, a number of senators gave impassioned floor speeches, keeping the Senate open late into the evening. And, Sen. Merkley has declared he will filibuster any Trump nominee to the Supreme Court. These are positive steps. But they are not nearly enough. Just voting against Trump's policies and nominees is not enough; Senate Democrats must use every procedural tool available to them to shut down the Senate. That means demanding roll call votes, denying unanimous consent, and challenging even "normal" Senate procedures to stop "business as usual." As Adam Jentleson, former deputy chief of staff to Sen. Harry Reid, pointed out recently, Senate Democrats can effectively grind business in the Senate to a halt — if they're willing to.

We are requesting that Senator Bill Cassidy hold a town hall meeting with his constituents in southeast Louisiana. Senator Cassidy's office phones have been going to voicemail, and in some offices the mailbox is full. Constituents deserve an opportunity to make their voices heard. Cassidy has scheduled town halls in rural northwest Louisiana. Those in the southeastern part of the state want an opportunity as well.