Democracy Happy Hour – April 14, 2021

04/14/21 Topic: Democracy & Climate Reform

Meeting Recordings & Chat:

• Speaker View Recording‍
• Gallery View Recording‍
• Chat file
  

Upcoming Democracy Happy Hour Topics:

• 04/21/21 – Local Reforms' Impact on National Policy
• 04/28/21 – Court Cases Impacting Democracy

Actions, Events & Misc. Links:

• FDF Events Page - Past Events- https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/events#past-events
• FDF Donation Page - http://fixdemocracyfirst.org/donate
  

Democracy in the News Links:

• Interactive Map Reveals Which Indigenous Lands You’re Living On - https://mymodernmet.com/interactive-map-indigenous-lands/ - Native Land - https://native-land.ca/

• More than a hundred corporate executives hold call to discuss halting donations and investments to fight controversial voting bills - https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/11/companies-voting-bills-states/

• Warren Buffett, Target, Netflix join group of companies and top executives in new statement opposing limits on voting rights - https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/14/letter-voting-georgia-buffet-target-netflix-amazon/

• U.S. Chamber Urges Lawmakers to Oppose Democratic-Backed Voting Bill - https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-chamber-urges-lawmakers-to-oppose-democratic-backing-voting-bill-11618349933

• Indigenous advocacy group launches campaign against new voting bills - https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/547025-indigenous-advocacy-group-launches-campaign-against-voting-bills?rl=1

• Fifth suit filed against Ga. voting law. Abrams' challenge gets clipped. Masters boss weighs in. - https://thefulcrum.us/georgia-voting-laws

• Congress Could Change Everything - https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/congress-could-change-everything

• The For the People Act (H.R.1/S.1) is A Racial Justice Bill - https://www.demos.org/testimony-and-public-comment/people-act-hr1s1-racial-justice-bill

• Democracy Restoration Act - https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/democracy-restoration-act

• 'Kiss of death': Advocates warn Democrats' voting bill could harm immigrants - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/kiss-death-advocates-warn-democrats-voting-bill-could-harm-immigrants-n1263527

• HR 1 is kind of half-baked - It does too little on gerrymandering and too much on other stuff - https://www.slowboring.com/p/hr1

• Opinion: Joe Manchin: I will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/joe-manchin-filibuster-vote/2021/04/07/cdbd53c6-97da-11eb-a6d0-13d207aadb78_story.html

• The media will be key to overcoming a Senate filibuster on voting rights - https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/04/12/media-will-be-key-overcoming-senate-filibuster-voting-rights/

• Republicans push ‘tsunami’ of harsh anti-protest laws after BLM rallies - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/12/republicans-push-anti-protest-laws-blm-demonstrations

• House committee approves D.C. statehood, setting up likely passage in the full chamber - https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-statehood-markup/2021/04/14/a7478654-9c8e-11eb-8005-bffc3a39f6d3_story.html

• SC Attorney General leads opposition to DC statehood in letter to president, Congress – https://www.postandcourier.com/columbia/sc-attorney-general-leads-opposition-to-dc-statehood-in-letter-to-president-congress/article_a5f53f10-9c9f-11eb-ad2f-2f025e8e79dc.html

• Biden Creating Commission to Study Expanding the Supreme Court - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/us/politics/biden-supreme-court-packing.html

• Biden is considering overhauling the Supreme Court. That’s happened during every crisis in U.S. democracy. - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/13/bidens-considering-reforming-supreme-court-thats-happened-during-every-crisis-us-democracy/

• White House Considers Stacking the FEC To Increase Enforcement Of Campaign Finance And Election Laws - https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/white-house-considers-stacking-the-fec-6355456/

• Many in U.S., Western Europe Say Their Political System Needs Major Reform - https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/03/31/many-in-us-western-europe-say-their-political-system-needs-major-reform/

• Exclusive: 1 in 2 states at risk of "rigged maps," group warns - https://www.axios.com/gerrymandering-states-partisan-redistricting-elections-3ead2a0a-3876-4e85-aaa1-f80efd76daad.html

• Preserve the 9th - https://preserveour9th.org/

• Speak Up Schools - Speak Up Schools - https://www.lwvwa.org/speakup

• Podcast | How to find unity in a divided America - https://crosscut.com/podcast/crosscut-talks/3/6/podcast-how-find-unity-divided-america

• Braver Angels - https://braverangels.org/

• Dialogues in Democracy - https://dialoguesindemocracy.org/

• National John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Action Day on May 8th - https://dfadcoalition.org/lewis-day/

• WA State Developmental Disabilities Council – Looking for new members - https://ddc.wa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DDC-Membership-Flyer.pdf

• The AntiRacism Institute - https://www.theantiracisminstitute.org/unpacking-racism
  

Democracy & Climate Reform Links:

• Climate Change and the American Political Agenda - https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/08/24/climate-change-american-political-agenda/

• Can democracies beat climate change? - https://www.politico.eu/article/can-democracies-beat-climate-change/

• Improving Democracy for the Future: Why Democracy Can Handle Climate Change - https://www.e-ir.info/2019/06/24/improving-democracy-for-the-future-why-democracy-can-handle-climate-change/

• To tackle the climate crisis we need more democracy, not less - https://theconversation.com/to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-we-need-more-democracy-not-less-119265

• To solve the climate crisis, we need more democracy, not less - https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/solve-climate-crisis-we-need-more-democracy-not-less/

• Reflecting on Democracy, Corruption and Climate Change in the COVID-19 Era - https://www.e-ir.info/2020/05/06/reflecting-on-democracy-corruption-and-climate-change-in-the-covid-19-era/

• The Shade of Dark Money - Recent Senate Report Details U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Toxic Influence on Climate Policy - https://chamberofcommercewatch.org/the-shade-of-dark-money/

• The money funding climate change denial - https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/20/the-big-business-of-climate-change-denial-.html

• Building Public and Political Will for Climate Change Action - https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/building-public-and-political-will-for-climate-change-action

• Corporations Could Soon Be Forced to Disclose Their Climate Change Denial Funding - https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/03/corporations-could-soon-be-forced-to-disclose-their-climate-change-denial-funding

• Rethinking the Intersection of Climate Policy and the Federal Budget - https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/reports/2020/12/23/494262/rethinking-intersection-climate-policy-federal-budget/

• One Quick Trick for Curbing the Fossil Fuel Industry’s Political Influence - https://newrepublic.com/article/158167/one-quick-trick-curbing-fossil-fuel-industrys-political-influence

• In the climate change fight, the Interior Department becomes a battlefield - https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/04/12/interior-climate-change-manchin/
  

Other Links Shared in the Chat:

• If you are interested in media and democracy, here is an excellent chance to hear very accomplished speakers with a significant audience participation piece: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/do-we-have-a-media-crisis-core-causes-and-what-to-do-about-it-tickets-150981829717?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

• If any of you have questions about the Anti-Racism program, you can contact Deborah at: deboraholive12@gmail.com

• 2040 is being shown by Meaningful Movies - https://meaningfulmovies.org/

Democracy & Climate Reform – Presentation by John Stafford