Sneak peak: Big Picture video series

Will you watch and share this video about increasing the minimum wage?

Dear MoveOn member,

We promised that you would get a sneak peak at the powerful new videos we are producing with Robert Reich, and here it is! We are sending the email below to all MoveOn members later today.

You're part of the reason these videos even exist, and you've made a commitment to share them widely. So please, take a moment to watch the first in our series—"Fight for $15"—and then click "Share" right now.

Thanks for all you do.

–Anna

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Dear fellow MoveOn member,

The fight for a $15 minimum wage just scored a game-changing victory! Yesterday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a plan to raise the wages of fast-food workers across his state.¹

This movement is building critical momentum, because no one who works full time should live in poverty.

I recorded a brief video explaining why a $15-per-hour minimum wage makes so much sense. It's the first in my new video series with MoveOn—and it couldn't be more timely.

Please watch and share now: 

Over the next few weeks, MoveOn and I will bring you more commonsense ideas that could make our economy work for everyone. We'll be relying on you to tell us which ideas you like most by sharing them with your friends and family.

And MoveOn will launch full-blown campaigns—in solidarity with our allies—on the ideas that get the most traction, so make sure to watch and vote—by sharing!

Right now, we're in the middle of a great debate over the future direction of our country. By sharing "Fight for $15" and the rest of the Big Picture videos, you're not only spreading powerful ideas, you're sharing solid intro-primers to the complicated economic issues facing our country, making it simple and easy for everyone—not just political junkies and economists—to get involved.

We don't have Big Media in our corner—so we'll rely on people-powered media to spread our vision for the country. That means you, watching and hitting "Share" on "Fight for $15" right now and helping us get it in front of millions of viewers.

Thanks!

–Robert Reich

 P.S. Cheers to the many tens of thousands of MoveOn members who are active in the Fight for $15 movement—whether you've signed a petition or attended an event in your local community. I salute you!

Source:

1. "Andrew M. Cuomo: Fast-Food Workers Deserve a Raise," The New York Times, May 6, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=304323&id=114907-10220574-ayvc6Mx&t=6

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Start a monthly donation here or chip in a one-time donation here.

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This email was sent to eddie alfaro on May 7, 2015. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Robert Reich

MoveOn has been working with former Labor Secretary Robert Reich to hammer out powerful ideas that could transform our democracy and our economy.

Dear MoveOn member,

For the past few months, MoveOn has been working with former Labor Secretary Robert Reich to hammer out powerful ideas that could transform our democracy and our economy—ideas that are compelling to Americans across the political spectrum. Ideas like breaking up the biggest Wall Street banks, making public higher education free, forging bold solutions to address the climate crisis, ending corporate welfare, and many more.

And we're turning these transformational ideas into ten short, engaging videos which we'll begin to release in just a few days. We need to know that MoveOn members will commit to sharing these videos widely so they can be seen by millions of people. Can we count on you?

Yes, I'll sign up to be among the first to hear about these new videos. And I'll commit to watching and sharing.

Here's how this project works: Instead of waiting for CNN or the network news stations to give our ideas the attention they deserve, we're recording videos that completely bypass the mainstream media—we'll get our message in front of millions of Americans directly by leveraging social media and our connection with millions of Americans (like you).

It's a hugely ambitious undertaking, one that's already been very successful. One of our videos has already been seen over three million times. So now we're expanding the project, but we need your help to keep building on our big success. Can we count on you to watch and share?

Click here to be among the first to see each new video from Robert Reich, and commit to sharing them far and wide. 

A good idea can change the national conversation only if we can get it out there. That means we can't do this without you.

Thanks for all you do.

–Anna, Jo, Erica, Manny, and the rest of the team

P.S. After you sign up, we'll show you a sneak peek of the project.

 

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Start a monthly donation here or chip in a one-time donation here.

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This email was sent to eddie alfaro on May 3, 2015. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Tell the FEC: Investigate Bush and Walker

Dear MoveOn member,

I'm John Ryan from the organization Common Cause, and I started a petition to the Federal Election Commission, which says:

Immediately investigate Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, and any White House hopefuls for violations of campaign finance laws leading up to the 2016 presidential elections.

It appears that some 2016 presidential hopefuls are defying campaign finance laws and raising huge sums of money through Super PACs, 527s, and other political committees disguised as sham nonprofits, by claiming they're not candidates or even "testing the waters."

Governor Jeb Bush's Right To Rise Super PAC has set a fundraising goal of $100 million, but hasn't said what for (I wonder!).¹

Meanwhile, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker bragged at an event in Iowa: "You know, the process tells us that legally we have to say we are 'exploring,' because the minute you say something else, a whole series of things happen. So as we 'explore,' we will come back many more times."²

Supposedly, they're just private citizens raising millions and millions of dollars in donations. More likely, their real goal is to dodge contribution limits, coordination restrictions, and disclosure requirements meant to prevent corruption—all while positioning themselves to launch their presidential campaigns.

This kind of unrestricted money has no place in our democracy. Tell the Federal Election Commission to investigate Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, and any other potential candidates for violations of campaign finance laws leading up to their formal announcements.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–John

Sources:

1. "Why Jeb Bush isn't running for president," CNN, May 1, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304254&id=114199-10220574-9JJRzNx&t=1

2. "When a tire literally came off, Gov. Scott Walker's one overnight stay in Dubuque," Journal Sentinel, March 8, 2015
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/295534681.html

This petition was created on MoveOn's online petition site, where anyone can start their own online petitions. Common Cause didn't pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Start a monthly donation here or chip in a one-time donation here.

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This email was sent to eddie alfaro on May 2, 2015. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Should MoveOn support this petition?

Dear New York member,

A MoveOn member named Natalie DeNault, Western Environmental Law Center recently created a petition on our public petition website entitled "STOP the Forest Service from Logging Threatened Lynx Habitat!"—and we'd like to know what you think of it.

The petition is addressed to Dan Jirón, Regional Forester, U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region and Erin Connelly, Forest Supervisor, Pike and San Isabel National Forest and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands, and reads:

Canada lynx are medium-sized wild cats that once ranged from Alaska to New Mexico. They have been decimated in the continental U.S. by trapping and logging and are now listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Yet the Forest Service is authorizing a 12,000-acre logging project in Colorado, including 2,370 acres of clear-cutting in the San Isabel National Forest. Lynx are known to live across 80 percent of the logging area. Denning habitat and passageways critical to maintaining the territory size necessary for the species' survival will be destroyed. No public comment period will be provided when exact logging locations are revealed. Please sign so that the Forest Service cannot shut out your voice opposing their endangering native animals on our public lands.

Sign Natalie's petition.

Here's what Natalie wrote about it:

Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm. We filed suit on April 21, 2015, challenging the Forest Service's lack of consideration for the Tennessee Creek project's impacts on Canada lynx, wolverines, and quiet recreational activities in Colorado. Please stand with us to protect animals on our public lands.

Can you click to let us know what you think?

I want to sign this petition.

I don't think MoveOn should support this petition.

We'll decide whether to send this petition out to additional MoveOn members in your area based on your feedback.

In case you haven't heard about it, MoveOn's petition site allows anyone to start an online petition and share it with friends and neighbors to build support for their cause.

Thanks for all you do. 

–Milan, Maria, Manny, Bobby, and the rest of the team

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Start a monthly donation here or chip in a one-time donation here.

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This email was sent to eddie alfaro on May 1, 2015. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Nepal

The death toll in Nepal has passed 5,000. Each time we look at the news, this heart-wrenching number climbs higher.

Dear MoveOn member,

The death toll in Nepal has passed 5,000.¹ Each time we look at the news, this heart-wrenching number climbs higher.

The images of devastated homes, obliterated villages, and distraught families tell only part of the story. There are also remote villages tucked into the mountains we haven't seen yet—where the situation may be even more dire.

Countless people are in need of food, water, medical support, and shelter—countless because the victims are, so far, uncountable. There is no way yet to know the total extent of the disaster.

But we do know the need is great.

International relief organization Mercy Corps is an exceptionally effective, efficient organization—and its Nepal-based staff and partners are already on the ground doing critical work. Can you chip in to help them? MoveOn Civic Action will cover the credit card fees so every dollar of your donation goes to help people in desperate need.

Yes, I'll chip in now.

Thanks for all you do.

–Anna, Corinne, Ben W., Maria, and the rest of the team 

Source:

1. "Frustration Grows in Nepal as Earthquake Relief Trickles In," The New York Times, April 28, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304228&id=113775-10220574-q8Mdm9x&t=1

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Start a monthly donation here or chip in a one-time donation here.

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This email was sent to eddie alfaro on April 29, 2015. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Baltimore

Dear MoveOn members,

All eyes are on Baltimore. Massive protests are ongoing in memory of Freddie Gray, a 25-year old man who died of spinal injuries he sustained while in police custody.¹ Media coverage has focused largely on episodes of violence in the streets—often missing essential pieces of the rapidly unfolding story.²

In this moment of crisis, we can learn something from Ferguson: the most important voices to listen to right now are local ones. And the most important images and videos will be captured not by out-of-town professionals but by the people of Baltimore themselves.

That's why MoveOn is partnering with our friends at the online civil rights organization ColorOfChange.org to launch a website and a support team to find and spread videos, tweets, and images from local organizers, observers, and residents of Baltimore. We'll help elevate important stories and perspectives through the site, our social media accounts, and our relationships with journalists.

Here's how to get involved: Check out moveon.org/baltimore—we'll be posting there regularly over the next week, as this story continues to unfold.

If you're in Baltimore or connected to people there, or if you can offer technical assistance, email us at baltimore@moveon.org or send us a direct message on Twitter at @MoveOn. (You can also share your thoughts and perspectives on what's happening in Baltimore, and what else you'd like to see from MoveOn, at those addresses.)

And if you see something you think the nation should see, please tweet it with the hashtag #BaltimoreUprising or #FreddieGray and tag @MoveOn and @ColorOfChange in your post so we don't miss it.

The media wants to focus on broken windows and damaged property. But the overwhelming causes of violence must be addressed. What Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in 1968 is still true today:

But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.³

Make no mistake: the conditions in Baltimore have been intolerable. Not just in the death of Freddie Gray. To a degree that shocks outsiders, the Black citizens and people of color in Baltimore have been bleeding for years under the unprovoked clubs and fists of some Baltimore police officers.

As a shattering Baltimore Sun investigative piece last year documented, more than 100 cases of police brutality led to court judgments or settlements between 2011 and 2014 alone.⁴ And that surely represents only a small fraction of the incidents that actually took place. The details of many of these cases are shocking. Here's a quote from the Sun:

Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson.

Those cases detail a frightful human toll. Officers have battered dozens of residents who suffered broken bones—jaws, noses, arms, legs, ankles—head trauma, organ failure, and even death, coming during questionable arrests. Some residents were beaten while handcuffed; others were thrown to the pavement.

Today, the nation is starting to wake up to what the residents of Baltimore have already been dealing with for a very long time.⁵ But this history of violence can easily be obscured by images of flipped cars in the streets. And unless local voices are heard, many Americans may react to the escalating violence as they did in King's day: by supporting more aggressive policing, rather than a reckoning with the structural conditions that turned Baltimore into a tinderbox.

What happens over and over in crises like these is that America and the world see a distorted picture, refracted through a sensationalist press corps and the power of public officials to define the media narrative. But social media offers a chance to turn the tables, to make sure people see what's really happening and how it affects regular people's lives.

Let's help amplify the voices that need to be heard in this moment, and stand in solidarity with the movement in Baltimore and across the nation fighting for a day when no new name becomes a tragic hashtag.

Thanks for all you do,

–Corinne, Ben O., Joan, Nick, and the rest of the team

P.S. Our friends at Showing Up for Racial Justice are holding a conference call aimed primarily at white Americans who want to take action in solidarity with Black communities to stop police violence. RSVP to find out more (or share with a friend): http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304236&id=113684-10220574-yshHfOx&t=2

Sources:

1. "The Mysterious Death of Freddie Gray," The Atlantic, April 22, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304229&id=113684-10220574-yshHfOx&t=3

2. "10,000 Strong Peacefully Protest In Downtown Baltimore, Media Only Reports The Violence & Arrest of Dozens," Black Westchester, April 27, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304231&id=113684-10220574-yshHfOx&t=4

3. "The Other America," Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., March 14, 1968
http://www.gphistorical.org/mlk/mlkspeech/

4. "Undue Force," The Baltimore Sun, September 28, 2014
http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/police-settlements/

5. "The Brutality of Police Culture in Baltimore," The Atlantic, April 22, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304232&id=113684-10220574-yshHfOx&t=5

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Start a monthly donation here or chip in a one-time donation here.

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Sign the petition: Tell Congress to keep the estate tax

This is Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, co-founders of the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. And we don't want another stupid tax cut.

Dear MoveOn member,

It's Ben and Jerry—the co-founders of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream—and we need your help.

We want to pay our fair share of taxes, but Republicans in Congress are trying to pass an unnecessary tax giveaway to America's wealthiest citizens. We don't want, need, or deserve this tax cut—which is why we're asking you to sign our petition to Senate Democrats that states:

If Senate and House Republicans have their way, they will eliminate the estate tax, which affects only the wealthiest 0.2% of taxpayers. Repealing the estate tax would hurt our economy and be fundamentally unfair. Senate Democrats: Stand with us—and stay united against the repeal.

Here's the truth: We don't need this stupid tax cut.

As we recently wrote in an op-ed in USA Today, we're wealthy thanks to the good fortune of our efforts—but also because of many other societal factors that contributed to our wealth.¹ The estate tax is one of the ways that the wealthy pay forward so the next generation has the opportunities we had.

The estate tax, which the U.S. has had for more than a century, currently affects Americans with estates worth at least $5.4 million, or $10.8 million for a couple—only 1 out of every 500 taxpayers.² And yet, it's been a target of right-wing lawmakers, working on behalf of their wealthy donors. 

Click here to sign our petition calling on Senate Democrats to stand united and stop this Republican giveaway to the superrich.

Congress has shrunk the estate tax in recent years—and now the Senate and House, in advisory votes largely along party lines, have voted to repeal it entirely.³ The votes are only advisory, for now, but when the Republicans press this issue again, Senate Democrats will need to be ready to beat back the repeal and block this latest Republican giveaway to the superrich.

We know this may not be as fun as helping us choose names for ice cream flavors—but it's critical to send a message that Congress shouldn't be working on behalf of only the wealthiest Americans but should get back to the people's business. Wages have been stagnant for decades.⁴ Young people are carrying around anvils on their backs called student debt.⁵ Our public infrastructure is falling apart.⁶

Good grief, Congress. With all this going on, are you really going to give another tax break to those of us who need it least?

Sign our petition—tell Senate Democrats to stand united and ensure that Republicans don't give multimillionaires and billionaires even more tax breaks.

Thanks for all you do.

–Ben and Jerry

Sources: 

1. "Ben & Jerry: We don't need this stupid tax cut," USA Today, April 16, 2015  
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304167&id=113354-10220574-vYdtJOx&t=3

2. Ibid.

3. "House votes to repeal estate tax," The Hill, April 16, 2015  
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304169&id=113354-10220574-vYdtJOx&t=4

4. "For most workers, real wages have barely budged for decades," Pew Research Center, October 9, 2014  
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=303882&id=113354-10220574-vYdtJOx&t=5

5. "Average Student Loan Debt Approaches $30,000," U.S. News & World Report, November 13, 2014  
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/13/average-student-loan-debt-hits-30-000

6. "Falling apart: America's neglected infrastructure," CBS, November 23, 2014  
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304172&id=113354-10220574-vYdtJOx&t=8

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Start a monthly donation here or chip in a one-time donation here.

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