Tell Biden to go all-out before Trump gets back into office!

Sunday Dose of Democracy:

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Democrats score unexpected wins in Congress
Brian Tyler Cohen and legal expert Marc Elias sit down to discuss the slew of judge nominations that the Democrats are ramming through the Senate at remarkable speed.

Democrats must do everything they can to block the dangerous nonprofit bill
Darryl Li, The Nation: "While President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t return to office until January 20, Congress is already advancing the most sweeping and dangerous terrorism legislation in a generation, which would give him the power to shut down legitimate civil society groups doing important charitable, community organizing, human rights, and humanitarian work. Earlier this week, the House passed HR 9495, an amendment to the tax code that would empower the Treasury Department to unilaterally brand nonprofit groups as “terrorist supporting organizations” and suspend their charitable tax exemption, without giving the groups any due process or access to the evidence against them. The resulting stigma of such a designation would almost certainly be enough to scare off banks, likely depriving these groups of the ability to function altogether. The drive to kill nonprofits is dangerous no matter who is president, and, in the past few weeks, most House Democrats appear to have woken up to the risks of the legislation. Fifty-two Democrats voted to support the bill as recently as last week, but by the time a subsequent vote came around on Thursday, only 15 voted in favor. But that was still enough to give Republicans the votes they needed to pass it. Going forward, the demand from everyone watching this process should be clear: Even one Democratic vote is one too many, and Senate Democrats should promise that they will not support the legislation. It’s not hard to see the reason behind this sudden attack on nonprofits. The bill’s sponsors have made no secret of their desire to smear certain nonprofits connected with campus protests against Israel’s war on Gaza as working at the behest of Hamas—a claim for which there is no evidence. Israel’s supporters in Congress and elsewhere have been equally clear about their agenda to crush Palestine human rights advocacy in the United States. Just last month, the Heritage Foundation unveiled 'Project Esther,' a policy blueprint to attack supporters of Palestinian rights in the higher-education and profit sectors—essentially an anti-Palestinian Project 2025. But the dangers extend far beyond any one issue. Two Republican House committee chairs earlier this year sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding information on 20 groups, from Students for Justice in Palestine (which isn’t even a registered nonprofit) to liberal behemoths like the Open Society Foundations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Democrats are still in control of the Senate until January, and they will still have the filibuster after that. If they don’t do everything they can to prevent this bill from becoming law, it will only be the latest betrayal in a long and self-defeating embrace of draconian right-wing policies—and likely a sign of far worse to come."

Take Action: Tell the Senate to confirm Biden's judges NOW!

Michael J. Fox leads the charge against Parkinson's disease
Michael J. Fox Foundation: With nearly 90,000 new diagnoses in the United States each year, Parkinson’s disease is the fastest growing and second-most-common neurodegenerative disease in America. Tackling this silent menace is going to require a united effort from the public and from our representatives in Congress, so Michael J. Fox is mobilizing a national movement to help policymakers understand what matters to people with Parkinson’s and share our stories to expand our understanding of this vicious disease.Will you add your nameto stand with Michael J. Fox and the one million Americans living with Parkinson’s disease and be ready when it’s time to reach out to your elected officials?

The more you learn about Elon Musk’s DOGE, the less sense it makes
Matt Ford, The New Republic: "In a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday, Musk and Ramaswamy elaborated in more detail about their plans to 'reverse a decadeslong executive power grab' and reshape the federal government. They claimed to have a mandate not only from the American people but also from the Supreme Court in their quest to dismantle federal regulatory agencies. And they advanced legally questionable arguments for how they could accomplish it. They suggest that they would 'identify and hire' a 'lean team of small-government crusaders' to be housed within the White House Office of Management and Budget, who would presumably be doing much of the real work. As 'outside volunteers,' Musk and Ramaswamy can’t actually cut anything or fire anyone. They would simply make recommendations for others—Trump, Congress, federal agency heads, anyone with actual power—to do it. At the same time, the two men act as if they will take a much more direct, personal role in all of this. Unlike those pesky civil servants, they would do so while carrying a wide range of obvious conflicts of interest and opportunities for corrupt self-enrichment. Indeed, the vision seems to be not that 'the people we elect run the government,' as the op-ed claims, but that rich and well-connected people should and do run it instead. Musk spent an estimated $200 million of his considerable fortune to help send Trump back to the White House this year. In return for that help, Trump has apparently given Musk free rein to reshape federal agencies that regulate Musk’s companies and purge the civil service that awards him lucrative government contracts. DOGE is not aiming to eliminate a wasteful, lawless, and antidemocratic bureaucracy in Washington—it is hoping to become one."

Take Action: Say NO to Elon's DOGE department!

Linda McMahon, Secretary of Plunder
Michael Mechanic, Mother Jones: "Educators are flipping out over Donald Trump’s choice of pro wrestling exec and longtime donor Linda McMahon for secretary of education. Predictably so, since experts in just about every field are flipping out when Trump chooses some poorly qualified (yet very loyal) hack to oversee their specialty—or selects another fox to guard the henhouse. McMahon, who served as head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s initial term, has scant education experience. She earned a teaching certificate in college and was a student teacher for a semester, but resigned from the Connecticut Board of Education in 2010 after the Hartford Courant found that she’d claimed an education degree she never obtained. More recently, a lawsuit accused McMahon and her estranged husband, Vince, of tolerating the sexual abuse of children by an employee of their company, World Wrestling Entertainment. But hey, she likes vouchers. They can be marketed to sound like a good and equitable thing—a perk for all Americans—when in reality, without serious means-testing, they end up delivering the most benefit to families who need it the least. They are but one of the levers (here’s another) the Project 2025 people and Trump’s new administration may use to accelerate a plunder that has been in progress for decades, under the watch of both major parties. One can almost hear it now: the 'giant sucking sound' that the late Ross Perot used to talk about, except in this case it won’t be the sounds of US jobs going to Mexico. It will be the sound of the remaining wealth of the middle class getting sucked ever upward and into the coffers of our most privileged."

Take Action: End the electoral college!

Atlantic current collapse "closer than we think"
Rob Hutchins, Oceanographic: "More than 40 of the world’s leading ocean and climate scientists have added their signatures to an open letter warning that the network of Atlantic ocean currents keeping the Earth’s climate stable could be on the brink of collapse, sooner and with greater impact than has been previously estimated. The letter cautions that the collapse of the Atlantic Meridonial Overturning Circulation (AMOC) – the ocean mechanism responsible for moving heat energy around the planet – could lead to “devastating and irreversible climate impacts” for countries around the world. Based on a string of scientific studies carried out over the past few years, the letter – signed by 44 leading climate and ocean scientists from around the world – states that the risk of collapse has so far 'been greatly underestimated', drawing attention to the 'potentially catastrophic consequences' of further weakening. Such fallout includes significant changes in weather patterns, extreme temperature shifts, rising sea levels, and even disruption to marine ecosystems. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had previously concluded that there is “medium confidence that the Atlantic Meridonial Overturning Circulation will not collapse abruptly before 2100.' It did state, however, that were the collapse to occur, it would “very likely cause abrupt shifts in regional weather patterns, and large impacts on ecosystems and human activities.” Scientific research conducted since this report, however, suggests this risk assessment has been 'vastly underestimated' and that passing the tipping point is a serious possibility already within the next few decades.'"

BTC leads collective of progressive creators with plan to take back the internet from Joe Rogan and the right-wing machine
Chorus: This election has made it painfully clear that Democrats' messages are just not getting through the tsunami of right-wing propaganda and lies flooding through social media, and we have no real answer to a Joe Rogan or a Ben Shapiro...until now! Chorus Collective is a new collaborative founded by creators like Brian Tyler Cohen, Leigh McGowan (Politics Girl), Roland Martin, David Pakman, Elizabeth Booker Houston, and Adam Mockler, who are bringing their audience of 40 million people together to create a new infrastructure to scale their voices and build support for more creators like them. Chorus aims to not only amplify progressive voices but also uplift new creators and build a left-wing social media ecosystem that supports its voices ALL the time, not just in the months leading up to an election. Will you chip in to help Chorus get off the ground and help break the right-wing stranglehold on social media?