INDIVISIBLE
ST JOHNS
GENERAL
MEETING MINUTES
DECEMBER 7,
2017
Deb Willis opened the meeting at 703 by welcoming
everyone and stating our two principles:
Donald
Trump’s agenda will take America backwards and must be stopped.
In
order to work together to achieve this goal, we must model the values of
inclusion, respect and fairness.
Joan McGinnis brought us up to date on the Trump Tax
scam, noting it was time to turn anger into action despite the votes. Bill is
in conference committee to be reconciled before a final vote in both houses.
Joan will generate a list we will post of all the conference members and their
contact information so we can address our concerns directly to them. Currently,
CHIP (children’s insurance) is not included. The bills are very unpopular with
the public and now is the time to really press calls, emails, letters, letters
to the editor, and resistbot. It was noted Sen Grassley’s Facebook is not
locked down at this time and tweets are able to be sent directly in response to
other MoCs. She urged everyone to stay focused on the tax bill despite all the
chaos Trump creates everyday. We only need to turn 23 in the house, 3 in the
senate, to KILL THE BILL. Members then took time to use resistbot or 5 calls to
immediately contact their MoCs. Useful sites: Resistbot.io, notonepenny.org,
5calls and trumptaxscam.org.
Jim Henry presented the Runaway Inequality program which
Indivisible St Johns will be offering for free as a 4-5 hr workshop on January
13 at the SE Library in St Augustine. The program, as Jim carefully took us
through, shows in graphic form how we got here, what the trends are and what
the dangers are in regards to the current tax bill under consideration. He
asked for participants to sign up since once you’ve taken the training, you’re
able to pass this crucial information to others. The workshop is free,
refreshments will be provided as well as workbooks. A sign up sheet was passed
around. Space for the first workshop is limited to the first 20 people who sign
up.
Lynn Willis, former IT specialist with the school
district and experienced in the internet from its genesis, explained the
dangers of Agit Pai’s (Chairman of the FCC and former Verizon lawyer) move to
roll back net neutrality rules put in place during the Obama administration. He
noted that ISPs (your data provider) will be able to throttle back speeds on
content, discriminate on content you receive over their systems and basically
control the internet. Mr Pai seems to think these ISPs will do the right thing.
Big content/service providers like Amazon and Google do not support this. One
of our members, a librarian here, noted all librarians are also against this
roll back. She noted the hundred of clients they deal with everyday in the
public library system who do not have internet access elsewhere. We must
continue to call, write, email, resistbot our MoCs and tell them we do not want
this. Members did a resistbot on the spot on this issue to their MoCs.
Also, contact
information for the FCC commissioners is here:
Fight for the Future was also recommended as a good
resource website. Members participated earlier in the day at a nationwide
Verizon/Save the Internet protest of which Fight for the Future is a part:
OUR VERIZON
PROTEST 11-1215 PM on 12/7
Deb ran down our upcoming and ongoing events:
Bi
weekly protests at US 1 and King Street. Visible, safe venue. Request ideas
from members
Monthly
socials will be the SECOND FRIDAY of every month at DOS on San Marco, north of
town
Inequality
Workshop January 13, 2018 from 10-3PM. Sign ups will be taken through Indivisible.st.johns@gmail.com.
The first 20 will be accepted for this initial workshop.
Monthly
general meetings will be the FIRST THURSDAY of every month, starting February
2.
Rapid
response if Mueller is fired is still ON. If he’s fired before 2 PM, rally in
the Plaza in St Augustine at 5-?. If it occurs after 2 PM, we are in the same
place at noon the next day til ?
The
Postcard group is doing a remarkable job of putting out hundreds of postcards a
week on selected topics (or your own). They meet at DOS every Thursday at 2 PM
Visits
to both Rubio’s and Rutherford’s occur every week on an alternating basis. The
details are always on our weekly action calendar and who to contact for
carpooling.
Members suggested adding advocacy for our national parks
and monuments which are under attack by the Trump administration.
Mary Lawrence gave a brief rundown of the SE Indivisible
Leadership Institute in Atlanta 11/18-11/19. Attendees came from VA, NC, SC,
TN, GA and FL. One group is currently building a website to monitor state
legislation which all indivisibles in Florida can access. The whole SE region
is building and verifying all progressive groups in the state so we can reach
out for larger support on actions. It’s exciting things are coming together so
quickly.
Meeting adjourned at 9 PM.
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