MISSION STATEMENT: To build and sustain an inclusive proactive community that will protect our environment, our freedoms and our basic human and civil rights. We are committed to an indivisible St. Johns County with liberty and justice for all.

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Indivisible St Johns Newsletter May 3 2020






YOUR WEEKLY RESISTANCE NEWSLETTER
WEEK OF MAY 3, 2020




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COMING UP THIS WEEK!

SAVE THIS DATE! MAY 7, 2020 7PM-8PM
INDIVISIBLE ST JOHNS GENERAL ZOOM MEETING
WE ARE HONORED TO HAVE ION SANCHO, FORMER SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS
 FOR LEON COUNTY FL
AND LONG TIME EXPERT AND ADVOCATE FOR ELECTION SECURITY
AS OUR GUEST SPEAKER.

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In November 1988, Sancho was elected to his first term as the Supervisor of Elections
for Leon County, Florida. He ran and was re-elected in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004,
serving his fifth term as of January 2, 2005. He was unopposed in each election since 1992.


In the 2000 presidential recount, Sancho (No Party Affiliation) was chosen to lead the
Florida hand count of ballots in dispute in Miami-Dade County. The U.S. Supreme Court
stopped the hand count in a 7-2 vote just as it got underway. Later the Court ruled 5–4
that no constitutionally valid recount could be completed by a December 12 "safe harbor"
deadline.


In 2005, Sancho invited Bev Harris, founder of Black Box VotingKathleen Wynne,
Black Box Voting Associate Director, Harri Hursti, computer programmer and security
expert, Dr. Hugh Thompson, application security expert and Ph.D. in math, Susan Bernecker,
former Republican candidate for New Orleans city council and Susan Pynchon, Director of
Florida Fair Elections Coalition to Tallahassee. There, they performed what is now known
as the Hursti Hack which became the center piece of an HBO documentary titled

Most recently, he is prominently featured in an ominously fascinating HBO documentary
about cyber-manipulation of elections. Sancho not only conducted clean balloting locally,
in an era when Florida elections were a staple of monologues of late-night TV comics but
was nationally recognized as an expert on complex computer systems needed for reliable
tallies.

The HBO special is titled “Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections,”
The producers thought this information was so important to the public, after the HBO
screening, they made it available for free on YouTube. It is must watch video.

We encourage all members to attend this Zoom meeting. Here is a tutorial about Zoom.
It is easy!

If you want an invitation to this very special meeting, please email
indivisible.st.johns@gmail.com


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Sending a Vote Forward letter is one of the easiest things you can do to increase election turnout.


Participate in The Big Send--video here

Help strengthen our democracy from wherever you live!
  Click here

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ACTION: Write to Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders urging them to work together
and to form a broad coalition needed to beat Trump this fall. 
This will require compromise on both their parts.

 EMAIL ADDRESSES:

Bernie Sanders: https://www.sanders.senate.gov/contact/comment 
(Select Health Care as issue)

Joe Biden: https://go.joebiden.com/page/s/contact-us 

Pre-written letters with our logo can be copied, signed and emailed.



CLICK HERE

Background:

Steve Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, authors of How Democracies Die, say that the Democratic Party must create a broad-based, multi-ethnic coalition to reverse the hyper-polarization in America that threatens our democracy, “A political movement that brings together—even if temporarily—Bernie Sanders supporters and businesspeople, evangelicals and secular feminists, and small-town Republicans and urban Black Lives Matters supporters, will open channels of communication across the vast chasm that has emerged between our country’s two main partisan camps” (219-220). They note Chili did this after falling from democracy into autocracy and eventually reinstated democracy.

The other threat to our democracy is America’s extreme income inequality, which they say we  must address in various ways, including eliminating means testing for social programs, as other advanced democracies have, and developing “more universalistic models found in norther Europe … social policies that benefit everyone, such as Social Security and Medicare.” (228). These policies include universal health care to dramatically higher minimum wages to greater access to pre-kindergarten and higher education, to re-empowerment of unions, to extensive labor market policies addressing job training, wage subsidies, etc. In addition, we need to move back to a truly progressive tax minus the infinite loopholes. Many of these endeavors are similar to proposals that make up Sanders’ platform.

Biden and Sanders have set up working groups on education, criminal justice, climate change, immigration, the economy and healthcare, but are still significantly apart on health care.


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This week is critical because it may be our last chance to demand that Congress ensure relief to every person in this country, regardless of tax or immigration status, age, or disability. 

Here’s the solution: demand your representatives pledge to vote ‘no’ on the next coronavirus package unless it prioritizes the People First Agenda.
Your weekly to-do's:

  1. Take the People's Agenda PledgeHold your Representative accountable when they vote on the next coronavirus relief package -- if the bill doesn’t put people first, they should vote no.
  2. Call your representative and demand they vote 'no' on the next bill unless it includes the People's Agenda principles. We need a package that puts people first -- which means keeping people on payrolls, providing financial relief for people, protecting public health, and defending democracy with national vote by mail and election security support. Call your representatives now to hold them accountable.
Reps:  John Rutherford, Dist. 4--202-225-2501
          Michael Waltz, Dist 6 -- 202-225-2706

Senators:  Marco Rubio  202-224-3041
               Rick Scott   202-224-5274

             If you leave a message on their phones, your opinion will be counted.
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As always, we love to hear from you! Drop us a line that you are safe and healthy. 
Let us know if you need anything!




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