08/28/23 Missouri Mondays - “A continuation not a commemoration”-- 60 years since the March ...
...on Washington and still we must fight for voting rights, civil rights, racial justice and equality!
Welcome to another Missouri Mondays!
Today we mark the 60th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech “considered one of the greatest and most consequential racial justice and equality demonstrations in U.S. history.”
On Saturday, thousands gathered on the National Mall for what organizers called “a continuation not a commemoration of the march. Dr. King’s 15-year-old granddaughter, Yolanda King, told the crowd, “If I could speak to my grandfather today, I would say I’m sorry we still have to be here to rededicate ourselves to finishing your work and ultimately realizing your dream,” she said. “Today, racism is still with us. Poverty is still with us. And now, gun violence has come for places of worship, our schools and our shopping centers.”
And the Rev. Al Sharpton also touched on the unfinished work we must continue, “Sixty years ago Martin Luther King talked about a dream. Sixty years later we’re the dreamers. The problem is we’re facing the schemers,” Sharpton said. “The dreamers are fighting for voting rights. The schemers are changing voter regulations in states. The dreamers are standing up for women’s right to choose. The schemers are arguing whether they are going to make you stop at six weeks or 15 weeks.”
Thank you for staying informed and taking action with other pro-Democracy allies across Missouri to help continue the righteous work of Rev. King fighting for voting rights, civil rights, racial justice and equality! Help us spread the word and share this link to sign up for Missouri Mondays weekly email https://bit.ly/3pF99Uw.
UPCOMING EVENTS - WHAT YOU CAN DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
TAKE ACTION WITH THE MISSOURI VOTER PROTECTION COALITION (MOVPC)
TO PROTECT THE RIGHT TO VOTE
Join the MOVPC weekly meeting MONDAYS at 10 AM
Text “MOVPC” to 66866 or register HERE: bit.ly/protectmovoters
Our work to protect the vote requires our continued attention! So we hope you'll join our next MOVPC call where we will discuss the necessary steps in our fight to protect the right to vote in Missouri. MOVPC is a nonpartisan statewide network promoting access to the ballot and working to remove barriers to voting in Missouri!
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Support the work of the Drum Major Institute!
Founded in 1961 on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of a world free of racism, poverty and violence, the Drum Major Institute carries Dr. King’s work and vision of radical nonviolence into the 21st century, democratizing it for all people. DMI leads through collaboration by convening leaders and organizations to identify common-sense solutions to our most pressing problems. DMI strives to inspire people to embrace their role in the King legacy, to empower them to build the beloved community and take action to promote peace, justice and equity for all.
Donate here: https://drummajorinst.org/donate/
Find more information here: https://drummajorinst.org/
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Fundraiser for Missouri Senate Candidate Maggie Nurrenbern
Tuesday, August 29
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Chappell’s Restaurant and Sports Museum
323 Armour Road
North Kansas City, MO 64116
Event Hosts:
Jim Chappell, Bill Skaggs, Trent Skaggs, Bryant DeLong, Laura Wagner, Jon Carpenter, Jane Quick, and Phil & Jane Snowden
Donate online:
Please make checks payable to:
Maggie Nurrenbern for MO
P.O. Box 46908
Gladstone, MO 64188
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Abortion Action Missouri
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
5:30-7:00 PM
Sign up here: https://secure.everyaction.com/pNvFbs8Cqk6ddqCSb_xa_Q2
Are you interested in learning how to collect ballot initiative petition signatures to get $15/hr minimum wage and paid sick leave for all on the ballot in 2024? Join Abortion Action Missouri on August 30th from 5:30PM - 7:00PM to learn the basics to get out in the community and help us reach our statewide organizational goal of 10,000 signatures!
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The Women in Politics Foundation
Champagne Brunch to launch the new Smithson Endowment Fund Advocating for Reproductive Rights - "Reclaiming Rights in the Red States"
Saturday, September 9th, 2023
11:00 am
The Simpson House
4509 Walnut St
Kansas City, MO 64111
Please join the Women in Politics Foundation for the launch of the Smithson Endowment Fund with a Champagne Brunch and "Reclaiming Rights in the Red States" program. The Smithson Endowment Fund is in honor of our founder, Rosemary Smithson, and was formed to advocate for reproductive rights.
Keynote Speaker
Hon. Jean Peters Baker, Jackson County Prosecutor
Panelists:
Ophelia Griffen, UMKC Student Body President
Ryana Parks-Shaw, Kansas City MO Mayor Pro Tem
Erin Thompson, General Counsel for Planned Parenthood Great Plains
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VOLUNTEER TO HELP GATHER SIGNATURES!
Missouri Jobs With Justice Voter Action for Fair Wages and Earned Sick Time!
TAKE THE PLEDGE AND VOLUNTEER TO GATHER SIGNATURES HERE:
Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages has launched a ballot initiative to gradually raise Missouri’s minimum wage to $15 by 2026 and allow employees to earn paid time off to care for themselves and loved ones.
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Help Gather Signatures for Abortion Action Missouri!
Volunteer sign up here: http://bitly.ws/Pwxp
Have you heard that Missourians might have a chance to vote on abortion at the ballot box? Every Missourian deserves the right to have their voice heard in our democracy and the power to help shape the laws that govern our lives, bodies and futures.
The Initiative Petition Process (IP Process) is the most effective tool that Missourians currently have to participate in democracy, shape policy, and build a statewide movement for abortion access. Missourians have used this process for years to build a Missouri where every person, family, and community can live with dignity. In the last 6 years alone, Missourians have used the IP process to pass Medicaid Expansion, raise wages, clean up money in politics, and protect union rights.
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HELP SUPPORT AND ELECT MISSOURI HOUSE DEMOCRATS
Get involved! Join the MO Democratic Legislative Network!
The Democratic Legislative Network is building a community of dedicated activists to support our ideals, our message and our candidates in Missouri. Get involved in your area: https://www.mohousedems.com/get-involved
Make a donation!
Every. Election. Matters. Every gift can help.
Donate today and help us keep building the infrastructure needed to recruit, train, and support local candidates in Missouri.
Organizing efforts require year-round work, not just when there is an upcoming election, and your donation will help build the groundwork needed to bring real change benefitting all Missourians.
Donate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mhd-donate-now
FIND EVENTS AND MORE WAYS TO GET INVOLVED HERE: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19AZUdtRH5WXefOC4Q5D9u-HyuzhBEL8rYX9Ospn3n18/edit?usp=sharing
Missouri in the News
“Judge turns down bid to block Missouri ban on transgender treatments for minors”
“A St. Louis judge ruled Friday afternoon that a new state law — blocking Missouri’s transgender youth from beginning new gender-affirming-care treatments — can take effect Monday.
Circuit Court Judge Steven Ohmer denied a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal. The lawsuit claims a ban on medical treatments to treat a condition called gender dysphoria would have “extremely serious negative health consequences.”
Ohmer, in his two-page order, wrote that the petitioners didn’t prove that there was a substantial threat of injury if the court didn’t intervene. “The balance between the harm to petitioners and injury to others does not clearly weigh in favor of granting a preliminary injunction,” his order says.
Ohmer was assigned to the case when the original judge from Cole County could not schedule the necessary hearing before the law took effect. The next step in the case will be a status hearing in September.
The state brought outspoken “detransitioners,” or formerly transgender people, Zoe Hawes and Chloe Cole as some of its witnesses. Cole, a teenager from California, travels throughout the country to advocate against gender-affirming care.
Cole visited the state capitol in the spring, invited by Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, to advocate for the legislation. She often shares an emotional story of regret after a surgical operation to affirm a gender identity she no longer holds.
The new law imposes a four-year moratorium on starting hormonal therapies, puberty blocking medications and surgical procedures for minors. It does not ban counseling for minors experiencing gender dysphoria and those who have already begun medical treatments can continue. If no future legislative action is taken, the ban on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones will expire on Aug. 28, 2027.”
Full story here: https://missouriindependent.com/2023/08/25/judge-turns-down-bid-to-block-missouri-ban-on-transgender-treatments-for-minors/ Missouri Independent Aug 25
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National News
“One for the books as Trump and rest of Fulton 19 enter Georgia justice system over 2020 election”
“At the end of a historic week at the Fulton County jailhouse, the criminal case against former President Donald Trump and his 18 allies also accused of subverting Georgia’s 2020 presidential election is just beginning.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump and the rest of the group – which include lawyers, former federal officials, people accused of trying to secure fake electoral votes for Trump and people alleged to have broken into election equipment – with racketeering charges.
Trump denied the charges as politically motivated and described his experience in an interview on Newsmax.”
“On Monday, Mark Meadows, Trump’s former top White House aide, is scheduled for a hearing in Atlanta’s U.S. District Court on his request to have his case moved from Fulton County’s jurisdiction to federal court. Meadows’ attorneys are arguing for the change in court jurisdiction because they say Meadows was acting on the president’s behalf as a federal officer at the time of the alleged offenses.
Three fake GOP electors, including now-state Sen. Shawn Still, charged in the Fulton County election interference probe are also trying to have their case moved to federal court.
The 41-count, 98-page indictment contends that the alternate elector meeting, which was held as Georgia’s legitimate electors met to cast the state’s official electoral ballots, was a key part of a multistate criminal plot to overturn the 2020 election results. The GOP electors signed and mailed a certificate falsely stating Trump won Georgia, which he narrowly lost by about 12,000 votes.”
Read full story here: https://missouriindependent.com/2023/08/26/one-for-the-books-as-trump-and-rest-of-fulton-19-enter-georgia-justice-system-over-2020-election/ Missouri Independent Aug 26
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“Trump’s classified-documents indictment more than allege crimes − it tells a compelling story”
“When special counsel Jack Smith announced the charges he was bringing against former President Donald Trump for retaining government documents, he did something unusual: He invited the public to read the formal legal document, known as an indictment, detailing the allegations.
And many did – concluding not only that the indictment was well-written but engaging.
I study the ethics of using narrative and rhetoric in legal persuasion. I am also a lawyer. I know that nothing required Smith and his team at the Department of Justice to write this way. Although legal scholars have called for a more stringent standard, the law requires only that a federal indictment include a “plain, concise, and definite” outline of the “essential facts” of the case – just enough to help the defense attorney understand what the client faces. Prosecutors could have cleared this hurdle by writing a technocratic document intelligible only to other criminal law insiders.
Instead, they wrote what in legal circles is called a “speaking” indictment. This indictment told a story. And not just any story – one laced with rhetorical and narrative techniques to not just help the public understand the case, but more, to persuade readers that the prosecution is justified.
‘I invite everyone to read it in full,’ said special counsel Jack Smith of the indictment against Trump.”
Full story here: https://missouriindependent.com/2023/08/24/trumps-classified-documents-indictment-more-than-allege-crimes-%e2%88%92-it-tells-a-compelling-story/ Missouri Independent Aug 24 2023
Read the full indictment here: https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2023/06/trump-indictment.pdf
MISSOURI MONDAYS NEWS SUPPLEMENT!
With so much important news each week we don’t want you to miss a thing! Check out our MISSOURI MONDAYS NEWS SUPPLEMENT here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13cokjWlCh2EkY5K6bM357rjVPizZDzxlMqjAuoBQfoI/edit?usp=sharing
THANK YOU! for staying informed and taking action to make a difference!
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