Tell Them - Release The Files

Happy Tuesday, Activists!

We hope you had a good weekend.  Well, it's finally happening - a vote on releasing the Epstein files.  It could happen today in the House and we need to make the calls to tell our elected officials to vote YES.  

RELEASE THE FILES!

As you may know, there's pending legislation (“Epstein Files Transparency Act” (H.R. 4405)) in the House for a vote today.  The bill will pass -- likely with unanimous backing from Democrats and even a good number of Republicans.  Speaker of the House Mike Johnson tried to bury it by shutting down the House for 6 weeks and refusing to swear in Adelita Grijalva, but it’s not going away. The votes are there.

So Trump is reading the tea leaves, and after spending weeks campaigning against it, he finally saw he was going to lose the House fight - and you know he can be seen a as a loser - and he posted Sunday night encouraging House Republicans to vote for the bill. 

So now, what about the Senate?  That's uncertain so we need to push for our senators to vote to pass the bill.  It will take 13 Republicans to vote Yes, along with every Democrat.  Plus, other shenanigans could happen too.  Majority Leader Thune could refuse to schedule a vote, or he could put up a watered-down version of the House bill.  

But the pressure is rising.  If you haven't already, check out this powerful video posted over the weekend by some of the survivors.  Send it to everyone you know and you can even mention it in your calls to our electeds.  

The last potential roadblock?  What if Trump vetoes it?  To defeat a veto we'd need a 2/3 vote in the House (~290 votes) and Senate (~67 votes) to override that veto. So let's see if there's more pressure on Trump and see whether the bill achieves veto-proof support in the House today.  If it does, Trump might not be able to pull off a veto strategy.

Now it's time to make our demands! Call your House Member and call our Senators and demand they vote Yes on the bill.  Again, the House vote may come today.

Rep. Evans – D.C. 202-225-4001; Phila. offices (215) 254-3400; email link

Rep. Boyle – D.C. office 202-225-6111; Phila office 215-335-3355; email link

Rep. Scanlon -- D.C. office 202-225-2011; Chester office (610) 626-2020; email link

Outside Philadelphia?  Find your Representative here.

Sen. McCormick – Phila office 215-405-9660; D.C. office 202-224-6324; email link

Sen. Fetterman – Phila office 215-241-1090; D.C. 202-224-4254; email link

For outside PA:  Find your senators’ phone numbers and emails at this link.

WE AIN'T BUYING IT!

From Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday – let’s make our dollars count. Let's hit a pause on shopping from these major corporations. We can refuse to send our money to the companies undermining our democracy. 

No Target - it caved to this administration’s biased attacks on DEI.

No Amazon - it's funding this regime to secure their own corporate tax cuts. 

No Home Depot - it's allowing and colluding with ICE to kidnap our neighbors on their properties. 

Some of you are already not buying from them - good for you!  

Instead, we can buy from local stores and support our communities.  And spread the word!  

 THIS SATURDAY - PROTEST AT A CITIZENS BANK BRANCH

Citizens Bank has long financed private prison and detention facility companies even though there have been years of allegations of forced labor, healthcare neglect, and other abuses. Citizens is a lender to companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group, which have caused widespread, documented harm to people in their facilities.

In Pennsylvania, GEO operates the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the largest ICE detention facility in the Northeast.  It is where most of our neighbors are taken after ICE abducts them off the street.

Join us at our protests outside Citizen branches - next Saturday at the two listed below.  We'll have handouts for you to give people walking by and you can bring your signs!

When:  Next Saturday, November 22nd, 10:00AM to 11:30AM

Where: Two locations - 

1515 Market Street - Sign up here

900 South Street (near Whole Foods) - Sign up here

YOU REALLY CAME THROUGH FOR OUR COMMUNITY!

Let's keep it going!

SNAP benefits have not yet been restored.  So we need to keep donating to help our neighbors.  We set a goal of $20,000 for our food drive for Philabundance and in just over one week we're over $24,000! Woo-hoo!

Please continue to donate to Philabundance to help our community while SNAP benefits are still withheld.  SNAP benefits are supposedly on their way again but it hasn't happened yet.  So people are still struggling during this very difficult period.  You can see the background and our call to action to our elected officials at this link.

You can make a donation at this link for our special page, and see our progress past our goal.  Any amount helps!  Please tell your friends and family about it too. Your entire donation goes straight to Philabundance.  You can select the food you want your donation to go toward or you can just donate and let them decide. 

AND, if you or someone you know is running short and needs to find a food bank, you can go to this list and map to find one near you.  

JOIN OUR LEAFLET PHILLY TEAM!

Join this exciting team and hang door hangers once a month - it's easy and effective!  

Here's how it works. You'll receive 100 door hangers to hang on door knobs up and down the block. We'll give you the specific blocks near your home for you to go to. 

We're currently dropping 54,000 door hangers right now, reminding people that those higher food prices for their holiday meals are not in their imagination - plus who is causing it and who to call about it.  

PROTEST AT ONE OF THESE

1.  Avelo protests - Saturdays, 11:00 am to Noon.

Bring your signs and tell Wilmington to stop hosting Avelo when it flies our neighbors to detention camps for ICE.

Where:  Wilmington Airport, 151 N Dupont Hwy (near the intersection of Rt. 13 and School Lane), New Castle, DE 19720  Sign up here.

2. Springfield protest - Every Saturday, 1:00 - 2:00 at the intersection of Baltimore Pike and PA Route 320.

Bring your signs on your favorite topic!  

3. Tesla Takedown Protest

Every Saturday - 11:00 - Noon

Tesla Takedown Devon - At the Tesla showroom, 470 Lancaster Ave, Devon, PA 

4. Every Friday -- 11:15 am- Join Fridays@Fetterman's for the weekly Friday vigil for peace in Gaza/Palestine outside of Senator John Fetterman's office at 200 Chestnut Street from 11:15 am to 12:15 pm. Register here  

5. Every Friday, 4:00 - 5:00 pm-- Protest at Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick's office at One Summit Square, Langhorne, PA. Bring signs about whatever you want. There's a lot to complain about!  Bring your flashlights!

6. Every Wednesday 4:00 pm-- Join this resistance group at #WeThePeopleWednesdays for Singing for Sanity at Richard Allen Lane train station, Cresheim and Allen Lanes. More information is here.  Bring your flashlights!

7. Every Monday at Noon - Monday at McCormick's -- Join our friends at Peace, Justice, Sustainability NOW for Monday's at McCormick's, in front of Senator McCormick's office at 20th and Market Streets.

8. Are you outside the Philadelphia area?  You can see all the protests planned by Indivisibles in your area at this link. 

And One More Thing:

Want to promote the No Kings campaign?  You can always make a donation of $35 and then check out our No Kings t-shirts, sign up for your choice and we'll send it to you to wear any time! And you know there will be another No Kings protest where you can wear them too.

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