Denied!

President Trump's appeal on his immigration ban was unanimously denied by a Court of Appeals.

Thanks, WA AG Bob Ferguson!

Hope on Climate Change Action -- from Republicans!

GOP All-Stars Present Carbon Tax Plan to Trump Team: A coalition of top Republican leaders - including James Baker, Hank Paulson, George Shultz, Martin Feldstein, and Greg Mankiw - will present a comprehensive plan to establish a carbon tax and combat the causes of climate change to White House senior leadership today. The plan, which marks a rare instance of the GOP taking the lead on proposing climate solutions, will be accompanied by an economy-wide analysis showing how the plan would lower carbon emissions twice as fast as all of the Obama-era climate regulations combined by 2025 and meet the Paris climate agreement targets. The plan includes jettisoning of significant regulations, including the Clean Power Plan, and earned a quick endorsement from Mitt Romney. A copy of the plan is available here; the leadership team will host a press conference at the National Press Club at 9:30 AM this morning. (New York Times $, Washington Post $, CNN, AP, Bloomberg, Axios, FT $. Commentary: New York Times, Martin Feldstein, Gregory Mankiw, and Ted Halstead op-ed $, WSJ, George Shultz and James Baker op-ed $)

Sustaining Democracy in the Term of Trump

From David Frum, The Atlantic , February 6, 2017

Protests can energize people and overawe governments. But it is the steady and often tedious work of organization that sustains democracy—and can change the world. Protests are useful mostly to the extent that they mobilize people to participate in the follow-up meetings to realize the protest’s goals. Collect names and addresses. Form Facebook groups. Keep in touch. Don’t argue: recruit. Meet in real space as well as online. Serve cake. Make your presence felt on your local elected officials not just once, but day after day, week in, week out. Make them feel that they could lose their individual seats if they do not heed you. They feel the pressure from lobbyists all the time…to succeed, you should be equally focused and persistent. And that requires above all: be motivated by hope, not outrage.

This is Not Normal

This is #NotNormal

It is not normal for a president to target investigations on states that didn’t vote for him (source). It is not normal to lie about which people are to blame for not winning the popular vote (source). A normal president accepts election results and, after winning, focuses on his or her leadership.

It is not normal for a president to ban a federal department from communicating with the public (source), to force them to hide data (source), nor pressure a department to lie on his behalf (source). A normal president welcomes information from government experts to assist in his or her leadership.

It is not normal to deny entry to legal residents with all required documents (source) nor invade their privacy (source). A normal president respects privacy and allows legal residents to travel freely.

Bob Ferguson Message on Trump Immigration Order

No one is above the law – not even the President of the United States.

Friday night, Donald Trump signed a deeply troubling executive order aimed at preventing Muslim and Middle Eastern immigrants from entering our country. Within hours, hundreds of travelers were detained at airports nationwide.

This is not America. Our country is built on principles of equal protection, due process, and constitutional protections from religious discrimination. Trump’s executive order is unconstitutional and un-American.

As your Attorney General, I will safeguard the rights of Washingtonians. That’s why my office has been working tirelessly to challenge this order in the courts. Yesterday, I filed suit against the Trump administration over its unlawful, discriminatory executive order. We are the first state to do so.

We are asking the court to invalidate Trump’s executive order nationwide and send a message that the President has limits to his powers – and that no matter how loud his voice, it doesn’t stand a chance against the Constitution. Together, we can make clear that we will stand together to protect the fundamental rights which make our country great.

Thank you for standing with me.

Bob

Betsy DeVos Nomination

The Vote count on Betsy DeVos is TIED!

Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins have come out in opposition to Trump’s nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos – proof that calling Congress can make a difference and change the minds of elected officials!

With the Democrats opposing DeVos, the vote count is now tied 50-50! Currently Vice President Mike Pence can break that tie to confirm DeVos, but if we can flip one more Republican Senator, we can defeat this nomination.

The Republicans remaining most likely to flip to oppose DeVos are Dean Heller of Nevada, Jeff Flake of Arizona, and Deb Fischer of Nebraska. We need to call their offices and let them know that DeVos’ priorities – cutting education funding, privatizing schools, and attacking teachers – are wrong for our schools and students.

Office of Sen. Dean Heller – 202-224-6244 or 702-388-6605
Office of Sen. Jeff Flake - 202-224-4521 or 602-840-1891
Office of Sen. Deb Fischer - (202) 224-6551 or (402) 441-4600

Message from Senator Patty Murray on Nominee Betsy DeVos

We have some huge news:

Thousands and thousands of Americans have been calling and writing to their senators to voice their concerns about Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos. And Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins heard you.

They're the first Senate Republicans to publicly state they plan to vote NO on Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary when her vote goes to the floor of the Senate -- which could happen in the next couple days.

This means we just need one more Republican to stand with Democrats to defeat Betsy DeVos!

Senators Collins and Murkowski both referred to the fact that they heard from so many people like you -- so your voice is being heard and it's making a huge difference. But we can't stop now!

Everyone needs to hear this news! This is because of all of your hard work -- share Patty's Facebook post right now and let your friends and family know their calls are working!

[Look at the prior post on this blog for specific senators to contact. If they aren't your senator, contact a friend who's a constituent and ask them to call. DO IT NOW!]

We have a chance to send a message to President Trump. Let's fight for strong public schools -- and let's fight against Betsy DeVos!

This is our last chance, so let's make it count.

Thanks,

Team Patty