There’s an urgent and important chance to defend net neutrality on Tues., Aug. 29. Town halls are a super important opportunity for activists and constituents to put our members of Congress on the spot and make it clear we will stand for nothing less than REAL net neutrality. There is a meeting with Senator Ben Cardin at 10 AM in the Bowie Regional Office, 10201 Martin Luther King Jr. Highway, Suite 210, Bowie MD 20720. There is also a meeting with Representative John Sarbanes about net neutrality at 10 AM in his office. 44 Calvert St., Annapolis 21401. RSVP for either meeting at https://events.battleforthenet.com/#startDate=2017-08-29&endDate=2017-08-29&zipcode=21212.
Activists are also hosting drop-ins at local congressional offices around the country for people like you to gather with their neighbors and tell their member of Congress' staff face-to-face the importance of protecting Title II net neutrality. The open internet is the greatest tool for communication, learning, and organizing in history. At a time when the government is attacking vulnerable communities, journalists, and activists, we can’t afford to lose our best means of fighting back.
'Two-Faced' Texas GOP Seeking Hurricane Relief After Rejecting Sandy Aid
Monday, August 28, 2017
Ted Cruz, who voted against a relief package for states impacted by Hurricane Sandy, urged President Trump on Friday to quickly deliver aid to Texas
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks to reporters after attending a healthcare bill meeting with fellow Republican senators at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 19, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
When Hurricane Sandy slammed New York, New Jersey, and a number of other states in 2012, Ted Cruz and more than 20 of his fellow Texas Republicans voted against an emergency aid package devoted to the areas devastated by the storm. Now that Hurricane Harvey is currently ravaging their own state, however, many of these same Republicans are changing their tune.
"The devastation of Hurricane Harvey has two-faced Texas politicians looking for the same sort of relief funding they flatly opposed five years ago."
—Larry McShane, New York Daily News
—Larry McShane, New York Daily News
Last Friday, Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn—two of the more vociferous opponents of the Sandy emergency aid package—sent a letter to the White House urging President Donald Trump to "provide any and all emergency protective measures available by a major disaster declaration." The senators also called on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to expedite emergency funding.
The two letters were quickly highlighted by lawmakers and commentators as shamelessly hypocritical.
"The devastation of Hurricane Harvey has two-faced Texas politicians looking for the same sort of relief funding they flatly opposed five years ago," noted Larry McShane of the New York Daily News. "Cornyn and Cruz were among the 39 Republican senators to oppose the [Hurricane Sandy aid] package, along with 179 GOP members of the House. Republican senators further delayed the vote by trying to offset the aid with budget cuts." Many of these senators, as ThinkProgress reported, had previously backed emergency aid packages after disasters struck their own states.
The relief was ultimately passed by Congress, 91 days after Hurricane Sandy struck.
On Sunday, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) highlighted Cruz's about-face on hurricane relief aid, and vowed to support aid to Texas.
"I won't abandon Texas the way Ted Cruz did New York," King wrote.
In a column for the Los Angeles Times on Monday, Michael Hiltzik underscored the hypocrisy of Cruz, Cornyn, and others, and concluded that there was a common ideology underlying every vote against Sandy relief: "climate change denial."
"[V]irtually every lawmaker who voted against the package had also denied or expressed extreme skepticism about climate change, even though it may well have magnified the impact of of the storm on low-lying districts, and may well have contributed to the devastating potency of Hurricane Harvey," Hiltzik writes.
This climate denialism, combined with a decline in "regional cooperation," is "a particular danger today, when the possibility—nay, probability—of future devastation from climate change, not to mention other natural occurrences, is staring us in the face," Hiltzik concluded.
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Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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