Daily Yopp! 6.27.17 Who Stands to Benefit Most from the AHCA?

We won! We won!

By now you may have heard that the Senate has decided to delay the vote on the AHCA until after the July recess. So that means our efforts to secure fifty-one No votes were successful, right?

Not so fast there. This is more like a stay of execution. The prisoner is still on death row and there will still be a battle when they return. As I see it, McConnell is betting that We the People will get busy with our summer vacation plans and have our guard down when they get back to DC.

So what should we do? In a nutshell, we need to make sure they get the message loud and clear that this bill cannot pass. It's not about partisan loyalty. This one vote even more than most others will tell the voters where your representatives stand. If they support this bill, they don't give a rat's *ss about half our nation's population and think 44% are selfish idiots who don't understand math and will sell their souls for less than $600.

Former Labor Secretary and current UC Berkeley professor Robert Reich explained just how bad Trumpcare is in his most recent Resistance Report. If you have 30 minutes to spare, I highly recommend listening to it. Better yet, subscribe to his podcast. You can also read his thoughts in this post from his website.

The key takeaway for me is this: Trumpcare/AHCA is primarily a tax cut for people making $200,000 or more per year ($250,000 for couples). People making under $55K will suffer tremendously. Those of us making over $55K per year will break about even.

Let that sink in. Then chew on it for a bit. And then wrestle with your soul for a moment. 'Cause here's some more numbers. The average household income in the United States is about $75,000. Knowing that, you might look at that chart and think that it's not that bad...that in fact some people making UNDER the average salary will benefit from the AHCA. Many of us might realize that we personally will be fine under the AHCA.

But let's give you some more math. Because the average or mean does not tell you how many fall under that $75,000 figure. The MEDIAN household salary for the United States in 2013 was $51,939 and the median personal income in 2008 was $29,964. Median means that half of the population makes LESS than that figure. The mean or average is very skewed because of the ridiculous imbalance of wealth that exists right now. (Apologies that I don't have more up to date figures. I'll work on that.)

For more clarity, here's how the Census Bureau explains it: Median income is the amount which divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount. Mean income (average) is the amount obtained by dividing the total aggregate income of a group by the number of units in that group. 

According to Robert Reich, "If enacted, [the AHCA] would be the largest single transfer of wealth to the rich from the middle class and poor in American history."

Let's look at more numbers. What percentage of the population will fall into the red zone of the chart below? Turns out that just over 50% of the US population will see a negative financial impact to the 2022 taxes if Trumpcare is enacted. On the other hand, less than 6% of the population will see significant positive impacts. Somewhere around 44% will see very small gains between $60 to $600. That last group is those whose annual income is between $55K and $200K annual.

Let's get real a second for just a millisecond. I know who my readers are. Most of you are in that last group. So I want you to chew on this:

Are you willing to let more than half the US population suffer financially and suffer serious impacts to their health AND allow the top 6% of the population to enjoy significant gains for less than $600 per year?

That's what Trumpcare is about. The poor will suffer, the rich will get richer, and those of us in the middle will sell our souls for less than six hundred bucks.

You decide.

Daily Yopp! 6.26.17 Send Letters to Your Senators

I just got off the phone with staffers from both my senators' offices (Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris). Both of them are doing everything they can to fight the AHCA, so besides offering a thumbs up, there was little for me to say on that front. I asked if there was anything We the People could do to support their efforts. I was told:

1. Keep calling. Your senators get a daily tally of constituent calls, so it's crucial that you call EVERY SINGLE DAY.

2. Send letters with personal stories about how you will be affected by the AHCA to your Senator's DC office. Feinstein's office tells me that letters sent to the DC office by post (ie, old school written or typed in an envelope with a stamp) are the most helpful thing to do right now. Perhaps you could even add a note on the front that says, "Contains personal story re: AHCA).

That's it. Just a quick Yopp! today. Let your skill with the quill do your talking.

Daily Yopp! 6.22.17 From Democracy to Plutocracy

Let's start with a basic Yopp! that gives us some sense that we have control over what's going on.

Please continue to call your senators about healthcare. That needs to be at the forefront. The Russia scandal is important, but there's not much we can do about it right now. Don't let that be a distraction from keeping the pressure on the Senate about the AHCA. Democratic senators need to do everything they can to stop the bill from passing. Republican senators need to be constantly reminded that passing this bill is wrong for the people and it's wrong for the legislative process, so call them out if they are supporting it.

Most importantly, there are 10 key states with Republican senators that might join the 48 Democrats that are voting No. These states must be targeted, so if you live in any of the states below, PLEASE get on the phone or get yourself to your senator's local office. If your state isn't listed among the Trumpcare Ten, please forward this Yopp! to anyone you know who lives in one.

The 10 key states are: Alaska (Murkowski, Sullivan), West Virginia (Capito), Maine (Collins), Nevada (Heller), Arizona (Flake), Colorado (Gardner), Ohio (Portman), Pennsylvania (Toomey), Louisiana (Cassidy), and Arkansas (Cotton).

This is really important. Senator Chuck Schumer believes that there are two GOP senators who are probably voting NO, so all we need is one to get the 51/49 majority. Over the past week, he's been on several talk shows begging citizens to step up and start making a fuss.

Fight Fight Fight!!

UPDATE: Breaking news just in. Four GOP senators who are not listed above have announced they do not support the current bill. The senators are Rand Paul (Kentucky), Ron Johnson (Wisconsin), Ted Cruz (Texas), and Mike Lee (Utah). They issued a joint statement that essentially says that they can't support the bill because it does not repeal Obamacare nor lower health care costs. Sounds good, but I'm withholding judgment for now since I've never trusted any of them.

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That said, what I'm thinking about lately is the real story of what's going on, and it's not pretty or even vaguely hopeful.

As we spin our wheels with water cooler talk about the latest Russia-gate story on Rachel Maddow or send faxes via ResistBot about the AHCA or yell at our MoCs Whac-A-Mole style about the relentless myriad of Calls to Action, most of us are missing the real story and it's obvious.

This is a power/money grab by the wealthy elite that has nothing to do with national boundaries. They want to see this world turned upside down and returned to feudal times. But instead of kings and lords, we're looking at CEOs and boards of directors. This alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence is only collusion if you assume that Trump and Putin have loyalty to America and Russia respectively. They don't care about their countries of origin. They are loyal only to themselves, global corporatization, and to other plutocrats. Destroying Obamacare has EVERYTHING to do with tax cuts for the wealthy. Gutting the EPA is all about helping billionaires make more money. Everything that Trump and Putin and Tillerson and Ryan and McConnell and [insert name of plutocrat] are doing is to further the imbalance of wealth and power in the world and to further enrich themselves.

Other folks have been thinking about this too, and it goes back further than Trump. Here's a few articles:

The Daily Beast: Joy-Ann Reid opinion piece "Soak the Poor"

The Washington Post: Brace Yourself, Taxpayers. Trump's Plutocracy Doesn't Come Cheap

2011 Newsweek article: Donald Trump and the Rise of the Plutocracy

The Daily Dot: What is a Plutocracy

2015 Salon Article: 5 Signs America is Devolving into a Plutocracy

Mic: Jimmy Carter Tells Oprah that America Is No Longer a Democracy. Is Now an Oligarchy.

2010 Robert Reich: The Perfect Storm

Ralph Nader: How Plutocratic Forces Have Crippled Democracy, And Why It's Up to Us to Fight Back


So yeah...I guess today's second Yopp! is to step back from the Whac-A-Mole game and see the big picture. Honestly, I don't know what we can do about it. I'm quite disturbed and not a little scared for the future. But if We the People (and I don't just mean American people) are to fight against what's going on, we need to wake up first.

Daily Yopp! 6.19.17 Health Care Battle Intensifies

We really need to get back on the phones and call our senators about the AHCA (American Health Care Act or the "Repeal Obamacare Act").

The Senate is pretty much split along party lines with support for Trumpcare. The key to stopping this terrible bill (which has about 17% support from the public) is to get a few Republicans to jump ship and vote no. We'd also like the Democrats to mount a strong defense against the bill. I know the recent shooting in DC has politicians and pundits on both sides calling for an end to the negative rhetoric, but please don't let the politicization of this incident sway you from your resolve. Calling your senator and demanding that they do everything they can to resist unvetted legislation that will likely harm millions of Americans is not negative rhetoric. It's patriotism and compassion wrapped together.

So the action for this week (and in perpetuity until this terrible bill goes away) is to call your senators. We gotta go! Gotta get the job done!

If you are calling a GOP senator, use this sample call script for Republican senators from Indivisible.org.

If you are calling a Democatic senator, use this sample call script for Democratic senators (also from Indivisible.org). The main goal here is to encourage the Democrats to use all means available to block this legislation -- notably to withhold consent for any procedural shortcuts and to filibuster by amendment, which means to essentially jam up the legislative process.

Check the links above for more details. And remember that Trump and the GOP are counting on We the People to fall into summer laziness and not call. Rumor has it that call volume has decreased. It's critical that they know we are still here and still care.

Additional actions for Californians from Enact Universal Healthcare for California. If you are in California, there's a push for Senate Bill 562.

6/19-6/23 Hey Californians, it's time to call & write! We need your help to get SB562 amended with the funding plan and through the Assembly with 2/3rds majority. Call everyone, call early, call often. Links and targets below. 

What to say: 

When you call & write, tell them to support SB562 with the funding recommendations in the UMass-Amherst fiscal study.  

https://www.peri.umass.edu/…/996-economic-analysis-of-the-h…Text of SB-562: 

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/fac…/billNavClient.xhtml… 

Who to call: 

1) Call & write your local Assembly member 

* Dial 855-271-8515 from your phone to be automatically connected to your state assemblymember* Fill out this form and it'll call you: https://go.ourrevolution.com/page/content/sb562-assembly/…* Use the Legislature's form to find your Assemblymember's phone and email information:http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/ 

2) Call Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon(916) 319-2063 Sacramento(562) 529-3250 South Gate 

3) Call Assemblymember Jim Wood - Health Committee Chairperson(916) 319-2002 Sacramento(707) 445-7014 Eureka(707) 463-5770 Mendocino(707) 576-2526 Sonoma 

4) Call the rest of the Assembly Health Committeehttp://ahea.assembly.ca.gov/membersstaff 

5) Call & write Governor Jerry Brown. Land his support *now*, or legislators will use his non-support as an excuse! Call (916) 445-2841Email https://govnews.gov.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php 

BONUS ** The 4 Democratic hold-outs from the Senate vote:Sen. Steve Glazer (voted NO) - (916) 651-4007 - (925) 258-1176 - (925) 754-1461Sen. Ben Hueso (Didn't vote) - (916) 651-4040 - (619) 409-7690 - (760) 335-3442Sen. Richard Pan (Didn't vote) - (916) 651-4006 - (916) 262-2904 Sen. Richard Roth (Didn't vote) - (916) 651-4031 - (951) 680-6750 (951) 443-4078

Daily Yopp! 6.11.17 Defend Universal Health Care

While we've been glued to our TVs watching Rachel Maddow connect the dots with regards to the Russia-Trump scandal, Senator Mitch McConnell has been quietly working in the shadows and pushing the Senate's version of the AHCA through.

According to the LA Times, "On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., invoked Senate Rule 14, which allows a bill to bypass committee consideration and be brought to the floor for a vote. That means no hearings and no debate, and improves the prospect of a vote before the Senate leaves Washington for its August recess."

No one really knows how the parties get to yes or the pieces that are sacrificed in every game of chess. But this is exactly what is going on while we are distracted by the Comey hearings. We cannot let this sneak by.

Here's your Yopp!

Back to the phones to call your MoCs:

• Call your Senators and demand that they block the AHCA.
• Call your Representative and demand that they vote NO on and revisions of the AHCA that come to the House for approval.

But that likely won't be enough. We also need to approach this from a state level. There are a few things brewing in this arena, notably bills going through the California and New York legislatures that would establish single-payer health care plans at the state level as well as a handful of interstate compacts designed to preserve aspects of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare):

The Atlantic: How Treaties Between States Could Keep Obamacare Alive

San Jose Mercury News: California Senate Passes Single-Payer Health Care Plan

Think Progress: New York lawmakers are voting to create a state-level single-payer system

There's a fair bit of push back and the usual claims that single-payer would be too costly. I can't claim to be an expert in this area, but at least I already know that health care is complicated. Here's a couple of articles discussing the issue:

Newsweek: Why Single-Payer Health Care Won't Work

World Net Daily: US Will Have Single-Payer Health Care Within Seven Years

So your second Yopp! is to call your state representatives and demand that they support some form of single-payer health care at the state level. Californians represent 12% of the US population and New Yorkers represent 6%. Given what is happening in DC, it's critical that the states begin to take the lead on critical issues like health care. Those of us who live in blue states that are larger should definitely push our state governments to do what the federal government refuses to do right now. Health care is a good start.

Daily Yopp! 6.9.17 Hope is a Good Thing

Hello and welcome back to the Resistance! Apologies for my LONG absence. Without getting into too much of my personal stuff, the main reason was that I was in the middle of a pretty terrible work situation and was spending most of my energy just surviving and some of it plotting my escape. The good news is that I did survive, found a way out, and have things lined up for next year. And today is that glorious day that teachers like me relish -- the first day of summer vacation!

Can we get back to politics? (Please!)

The second reason I took a pause from Yopping is that I really couldn't get a grip on what's been going on and what we average citizens could do about it. Scandal has been normalized. Former Director of National Intelligence says that Watergate pales in comparison to the Trump investigation. Bill Moyer's website gives a detailed timeline of key events connecting President Trump to Russia. But still, the Republican-controlled Congress seems tepid at best in its utilization of its Constitutional powers of checks and balances. Racism and other acts of hate are on the rise across America, even in blue areas of Northern California like my hometown of Los Gatos. The new Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale feels more like a prescient warning of what's coming than a dystopian fantasy. And among Trump voters, even the most unenthusiastic supporters are standing by their man.

Perhaps some of you have felt similarly. I know have not been making my usual calls to my MoCs except occasionally. I've certainly been watching the news, but more as a stunned spectator than as an emboldened activist.

It's been hard to feel hopeful, but hope is critical right now. To quote Andy Dufresne from my favorite film The Shawshank Redemption, "Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."

Today's Yopp! is about rekindling hope and taking a big picture look at what's happening. This comes from writer Rebecca Solnit (with thanks to Solidarity Sundays co-founder Kate Schatz for posting it):

You know, it's a truly frenzied roller-coaster of a time, and I understand that it is making a lot of people dizzy and sick and the change fell out of a lot of peoples' pockets. But it's also pretty amazing.

• This morning the president got nailed as a liar and obstructor of justice while the whole world watched.
• A bunch of Mormon women are actively working on behalf of undocumented immigrants (and some have changed party affiliation).
• Indivisible's 6000+ chapters are building the foundation for big change in the midterms.
• The world is uniting to move forward on climate change without the US federal government; inside the USA, states and cities, 279 cities representing almost 60 million people at last count, are also going along with the Paris accords.
• France elected a climate-conscious guy.
• The United Kingdom is rejecting the Tories [update: Corbyn called on May to resign].
• The judiciary system keeps rejecting the Muslim ban and a number of Republican voter-suppression and gerrymandering schemes have been overturned.
• A lot of government employees are quietly acting on principle.
• Rachel Maddow is the queen of Cable TV, beating out a declining Fox, because people are hungry for what she has to tell them.
• Kamala Harris, the second black woman ever in the Senate, is laying the groundwork for going after Jeff Sessions, who's caught in his lies, as is Jared Kushner.
• Whatever you think of the Democratic Party as a whole, a bunch of them are doing good work right now.
• Nevada sent the first Latina senator ever to the pallid senate, and Catherine Cortez Masto is standing up for everything from reproductive rights to public land.
• Maxine Waters isn't a queen; she's an empress right now, speaking so much fierce truth to so much corrupt power (and nudging giant white boys outta her way with panache).
• Elizabeth Warren--well, she persists with strength.
• There are some real heroes out there. People who are in the limelight and everyday people doing their work quietly. People who see the old suffering that was already there--my amazing cousin in her nineties just wrote me about bringing kits of kindness to kids in the L.A. foster care system. People who are trying to ameliorate and eliminate the new suffering.
• And it's turning out to be not as much fun to be right wing as they thought it would be. They haven't yet destroyed the ACA and they're finding out just how unpopular trying to do that is (and people need to ramp up telling their reps to defend it).
• Franken says Republicans are scared, caught in a lot of dilemmas, and with today's extraordinary hearings, they may be more so, not sure how to align themselves with a crumbling administration.
• Jared Kushner is in hot water.
• There are about seven investigations into this Russian/collusion business, and we don't have to waste time on people who think it's imaginary any more.
• Creepy congressman Jason Chaffetz saw the writing on the wall and quit, and a bunch of Republicans are on the lam from their constituents, afraid of being held accountable, afraid of democracy.
• Meanwhile in right-wing media, Bill O'Reilly was forced out.
• Hannity lost a ton of his advertisers when his bullshit about 
• Seth Rich fell on his own head (that's what it's like on rollercoasters).
• Roger Ailes died in disgrace after being forced out by a bunch of women supporting each other in testifying that he was a grotesque monster and Fox was a gulag-brothel.
• Breitbart has lost 90% of its ad revenue thanks to brilliant activism.
• Trump and his son got caught siphoning off money meant for children with cancer this epic week.

What the Republicans once managed to at least hide under drapery is out in all its squalid nakedness now: the lies are naked, the cruelty is naked, and the destructiveness is naked. That's helpful; we're done having to make the case that they serve the 1% and don't give a damn about the planet, or the poor, or most of us. It's all clear in this moment. This is a historic moment. 

I keep hearing people predict the future, often glumly, with the false certainty that is pernicious to any real engagement. Here's what you have to remember. The future is not written; it's ours to make, but if we do nothing we will get nothing or worse than nothing. In this moment of utter turmoil, civil society must be the counter to a rogue administration. A crisis, says one dictionary, is “the point in the progress of a disease when a change takes place which is decisive of recovery or death; also, any marked or sudden change of symptoms, etc.” 

Together we have the power to shape the future; together we are more than a counterweight to the crumbling power of the Trump administration that fails to understand the nature of power. I see a lot of beauty in the principle and the passion of the people around me and beyond right now; I see a citizenry (and that means everyone who lives here whatever their status) rising up. I don't see the future, but I see extraordinary possibilities.

Key idea to take away, folks: The future is not written; it's ours to make.

Take some time today to ponder that and refocus your intentions if you (like me) have fallen off the daily resistance wagon. Tomorrow we ride!

Yours in Solidarity!