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.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

See how these NEFL Indivisibles have kept on Rubio for over a year. Anyone is welcome to join these visits posted in our newsletter

After all this time, Rubio has never been there but the aides know this group well. They spent last Tuesday with aide Matt on very contentious issues, while remaining respectful and determined. This is a letter they left for the Senator and they do this every time. This group should inspire all of us. Consider going one time. We guarantee it's a good experience.


Sen. Rubio                                                                                                      May 22, 2018

In your recent interviews and Senate testimony you recognize that China poses a significant threat to US leadership and has a detailed timetable and strategy to overtake the US militarily and economically by 2050.  A plausible and troubling scenario is outlined in this Axios article. In short, China has made this effort its national priority and is rapidly developing the resources and infrastructure this effort requires.
Regrettably, the US has no long term strategy and relies on short term knee jerk responses driven by partisanship and the mistaken notion that this country can act in isolation from the rest of the free world.
Here is a partial list of elements and action items for inclusion in a national strategy and commitment that we encourage you and members of Congress to pursue.
·         Encourage and develop the talents and commitment brought to our shores by immigrants and refugees to reflect the fact that the US birth rate is declining
·         Address the threats to our democracy posed by racism, xenophobia and religious intolerance
·         Confront human rights abuses and empower women and children
·         Address the destructive influence of special interests and their money to influence elected representatives, appointed officials and public policy for personal gain
·         Rebuild a crumbling infrastructure
·         Address our culture of guns and violence
·         Balance expenditures on defense with adequate funding for health, education, environmental protection and infrastructure improvements
·         Preserve the independence and impartiality of our system of justice and preclude political and media influence and meddling
·         Preserve and protect our threatened environment
·         Focus our economy on new technologies, renewable energy, robotics, efficient mass transit, artificial intelligence and healthcare
·         Strengthen our relationships with other nations through free and fair trade partnerships
·         Develop the political will to enact a fair and equitable tax policy to sufficiently fund the above and reduce our national debt
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Regrettably, school shootings continue to dominate the news. More than 1,600 mass shootings have taken place in America since the Sandy Hook massacre.
We applaud your support for ‘red line’ mental health evaluations before granting weapons ownership permits.  However, Federal action is still needed on
  • universal background checks
  • limits on assault weapons, magazine capacities and bump stocks
  • prohibitions on proposed interstate recognition of concealed carry permits
None of the above would have prevented last week’s shooting in Texas but this tragedy underlines our concerns over the national addiction to a culture of unregulated and irresponsible gun ownership.  We encourage you to renounce the NRA and refuse and return campaign contributions you received from this organization that has denied its role to ensure public safety.
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Our previously submitted questions and concerns regarding the 2020 Census have gone unanswered.
·         We fail to understand how asking a question about one’s citizenship is “necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act, and to protect against voting discrimination”.  Please clarify and explain the logic or justification behind this claim by the Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Justice.
·         Two of three trial surveys have been canceled for lack of funds and staffing and the third trial did not include the question about citizenship.  How can you be confident that asking the question about citizenship won’t inhibit responses from immigrant communities out of fear of deportation and reprisal against family and friends?
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Your weekly newsletter reports you introduced S.2856 - A bill to reform the requirements regarding the safety and security of families living in public and federally assisted housing in high-crime areas.  When will the text be available for posting on Congress.org?
The Wall Street Journal reported that
·         “Mortgage rates this week jumped to their highest level since 2011, signaling a shift from a period of ultracheap loans to a higher-rate environment that could slow home price appreciation and squeeze first-time buyers,"
·         "The spike this year has been faster than many economists predicted as a surging economy, the prospect of wage gains and a steep rise in prices for commodities such as lumber and gasoline stoke inflation worries."
·         "A one percentage point increase in [mortgage] rates can lead to a reduction in home sales of 7% to 8%."
·         Rising interest rates are the market’s reaction to the ballooning Federal deficit caused by the ill advised and ill timed Tax Cut Act.
·         Premiums for health insurance plans sold on the federal marketplace are expected to increase by nearly 16.9 percent in Florida next year due to changes in the Affordable Care Act, according to a new analysis released Friday.
What is your response for bringing relief to middle class Americans who will be forced to  subsidize tax cuts with higher consumer prices and health care costs caused by inflation?
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On May 7, Donald Trump sent Congress a list of $15 billion in proposed cuts to previously approved congressional spending, including a staggering $7 billion from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Another $2 billion in cuts would come from the Child Enrollment Contingency Fund, which sets aside emergency funds for state CHIP programs in case of unexpectedly high enrollment.
These cuts were proposed as part of a process called rescission, where the government reverses spending authorization decisions after the fact by simple majority votes. Trump is expected to use this process frequently in the wake of the massive deficit generated by Republicans’ fabulously unpopular tax bill.
We urge you to oppose cuts to healthcare for children, tightening requirements for SNAP eligibility and reductions in other essential public services.
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We encourage you to support a clean and sustainable environment for the sake of future generations.
Plastic Pollution - The Facts Are Overwhelming
The proliferation of plastic products in the last 70 years or so has been extraordinary; quite simply we cannot now live without them. We are now producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year, half of which is for single use. More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year.
Plastic is cheap and incredibly versatile with properties that make it ideal for many applications. However, these qualities have also resulted in it becoming an environmental issue. We have developed a “disposable” lifestyle and estimates are that around 50% of plastic is used just once and thrown away.
Plastic is a valuable resource and plastic pollution is an unnecessary and unsustainable waste of that resource.
      Packaging is the largest end use market segment accounting for just over 40% of total plastic usage.
      Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are used every minute.
      A plastic bag has an average “working life” of 15 minutes.
      Over the last ten years we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last century.
Beverage Bottles Alone
      According to the Container Recycling Institute, 100.7 billion plastic beverage bottles were sold in the U.S. in 2014, or 315 bottles per person.
      57% of those units were plastic water bottles: 57.3 billion sold in 2014. This is up from 3.8 billion plastic water bottles sold in 1996, the earliest year for available data.
      The process of producing bottled water requires around 6 times as much water per bottle as there is in the container.
      14% of all litter comes from beverage containers. When caps and labels are considered, the number is higher.

The Pacific Institute estimates that in 2006:
      Producing the bottles for American consumption required the equivalent of more than
17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy for transportation
      Bottling water produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide
      It took 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water

Invisibles The Plastic Inside Us  By Chris Tyree & Dan Morrison

Recent studies have shown the shocking extent of plastics in the world’s oceans and lakes. Orb Media followed with a new question: If microscopic plastic is in oceans, lakes, and rivers, is it in drinking water as well?
In the first public scientific study of its kind, we found previously unknown plastic contamination in the tap water of cities around the world.
Microscopic plastic fibers are flowing out of taps from New York to New Delhi, according to exclusive research by Orb and a researcher at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. From the halls of the U.S. Capitol to the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda, women, children, men, and babies are consuming plastic with every glass of water.
More than 80 percent of the samples we collected on five continents tested positive for the presence of plastic fibers.
Microplastics — tiny plastic fibers and fragments — aren’t just choking the ocean; they have infested the world’s drinking water.
Why should you care? Microplastics have been shown to absorb toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other illnesses, and then release them when consumed by fish and mammals.
Marine Plastic Debris and Microplastics Source United Nations Environmental Programme
Global Lessons and Research to Inspire Action and Guide Policy Change

Synthetic Polymer Contamination in Global Drinking Water
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We express our deep concern over the actions taken by President Trump to limit expression of free speech and impose a gag rules designed to block access to preventive care at Planned Parenthood health centers.  These centers serve more than 40% of the four million patients who rely on Title X (the nation's program for affordable birth control and reproductive health care).  These gag rules include two unprecedented attacks on patients and doctors:

1.      Doctors and nurses across the country are forbidden from referring patients for abortion. Even if someone asks for information, even if their health is at risk, even if a safe and legal abortion is their best option.
2.      There's no guarantee that you're getting full and accurate information about your health care. If someone discovers they're pregnant after being diagnosed with cancer, for example, their health care provider may not tell them that abortion is even an option.

Respectfully, on behalf of Northeast Florida Indivisible
David Johnson, dj.jj@icloud.com, Orange Park, FL 32073, 904-514-4304

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