All MoCo DSA members:

We had a terrific branch meeting on Sunday, with tons of state legislative updates from state delegates Gabe Acevero (D-39) and Vaughn Stewart (D-19) (both also DSA members). We heard about Housing for All legislation, police accountability legislation, climate change legislation, Medicare for All legislation, and more. Montgomery County Executive and DSA member Marc Elrich joined us at the meeting as well. Our next branch meeting is on Jan. 5 in Bethesda!















REMINDER: *Tonight* is our next rent control campaign planning meeting. Join us for an update on our campaign so far, and help us make plans for our first public outreach in early 2020! More info is below.

Yesterday was Chelsea Manning's birthday, which she spent jail in Alexandria, Virginia. She's been held there for seven months for refusing to testify against Julian Assange at a grand jury. She is also being fined $1,000 per day. The fines and jail time are designed to try to punish her as much as possible for not testifying. This is unfortunately not surprising, considering how harshly the state treats whistleblowers in our country.

If you need to join DSA or renew your membership, please do so here! All membership renewals and new memberships must be done through national DSA. You can still make direct donations to our Metro DC DSA chapter, but those donations can no longer be used for membership renewals. Confused? Unsure if your membership has expired? Just ask us!

Upcoming DSA events:
 Wednesday, December 18 from 7 pm-9 pm in downtown Silver Spring: Rent Control campaign meeting
We'll meet to discuss the next steps in our rent control campaign - including making plans for our public launch of the campaign in 2020! Email us for exact location info.

 Sunday, January 5 from 2 pm-4:30 pm at Bethesda Library: MoCo DSA Branch Meeting
Please join us at our first branch meeting of 2020! Details and RSVP here.

Good Reads:
 From The Guardian: "Labour won't win again until it works out why it lost" by Gary Younge. "It’s not enough to blame Jeremy Corbyn, Brexit or the media. The picture is far more complex than that."

 From Huffington Post: "Brexit is the reason Labour lost. This is how it can win again" by Len McClusky. "When our losses are concentrated in former coalfield constituencies that voted Leave, the reason is staring us in the face."

From Jacobin: "How Kshama Sawant Defeated Amazon" by Meagan Day. "Amazon went all out to defeat Seattle’s socialist city council member Kshama Sawant in this year’s election — but Sawant emerged victorious. In an interview with Jacobin, she reflects on why it’s so important to pick fights with capitalists, and what every socialist running for office should know."


In solidarity,