Here is a very interesting presentation about how to understand the MAGA mind. Check it out
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE America Act, passed the House of Representatives on February 11, 2026, and is currently under consideration in the United States Senate.
As of mid-July 2026, the SAVE America Act has not yet passed the Senate and is stalled after multiple failed votes. This bill is a top priority for the president (47) ahead of the 2026 midterms. He has consistently urged Congress to pass it and has even withheld his signature on other bills until the SAVE America Act is sent to him. 47 is demanding that the Senate cancel its August recess until the voting bill is approved.
Why should we oppose this legislation and protect our democracy? We must make our congressional leaders hear our voices. Please call, text, email, visit their district offices, and demand that they vote NO!
The SAVE America Act will introduce additional obstacles for eligible voters trying to register and cast ballots, disrupting the way elections are conducted nationwide just months before the midterms. Specifically, the bill would eliminate online and mail-in voter registration, impose excessive civil and criminal penalties on election officials, and disenfranchise millions of Americans by requiring documentary proof of citizenship and photo identification both when registering to vote and when voting at the polls. Currently, only 6% of voters register in person at an election office, and over 146 million Americans do not own a passport.
It's important to note that it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and instances of such voting are extremely rare. Federal law requires voters to swear under penalty of perjury that they are citizens and eligible to vote.
Like many civil rights organizations at the national, state, and local levels, we urge Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and invest in expanding access to voting rather than restricting it. The proposed SAVE America Act conflicts with the U.S. Constitution by granting states primary authority over the timing, locations, and methods of federal elections, with only limited oversight from Congress.
Additionally, this bill emerges amid heightened tensions surrounding election administration. Recent events, such as the FBI's seizure of hundreds of boxes of 2020 election ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, and similar incidents in other battleground cities, have fueled concerns—especially as Trump continues to falsely assert that he won in 2020.
The Brennan Center for Justice highlighted that the bill would disenfranchise Americans of all ages and races, disproportionately affecting younger voters and people of color. Women, particularly those whose married names do not match their birth certificates or passports, would also face additional challenges in voicing their opinions.
We must contact California's two senators and demand that they vote NO on the SAVE America Act as written. We should write letters to the editors of local newspapers, include information about the bill in our organizational newsletters, and share it with friends, family, and colleagues. While resources may be limited, we should also support organizations fighting for justice on the front lines.
It is essential to stand in solidarity with other progressive community-based groups working to dismantle white supremacy and promote justice. If enacted, the SAVE America Act would create significant hurdles for both voters and election officials. We must take direct action, organize peaceful protests, and actively raise awareness!
If enacted, the SAVE America Act would create hurdles for voters and election officials. Please call California's two United States Senators:
501 I Street, Suite 7-800
Sacramento, CA 95814 website: https://www.padilla.senate.gov/about/
*This office is currently under renovation and is only available by appointment only
(916) 448-2787 or (202) 228-3865
posted by Duane Campbell
Every voter, regardless of party, should be able to trust that their ballot can be cast safely and will be counted fairly. Yet voters run into problems that shouldn’t happen: confusing rules, long lines, challenged mail ballots, polling-place disruptions and urgent questions that no one answers in time. We’re facing more challenges than ever this upcoming election, with mid-decade redistricting, challenges to vote-by-mail, and a constant assault on elections by the current occupant of the White House. Ten states have changed their congressional maps since last summer. And unfortunately politicians have used redistricting to tilt the playing field—choosing their voters instead of letting voters choose them. The Supreme Court’s Callais decision this spring made things worse by gutting the Voting Rights Act, diluting Black voters’ power and limiting communities’ ability to elect representatives of their choice. And even though mail-in voting has been proven repeatedly to be safe and secure, sweeping changes have been made regarding how mail ballots are sent, tracked and tied to voter-eligibility lists. Those changes are already being fought in court, leaving voters and election officials facing even more uncertainty than usual. Democracy Defenders are AFT members and allies trained to protect the right to vote in their own communities—helping voters understand their options for casting a ballot early or by mail, watching for threats to voter access, connecting voters with election-protection resources, and making sure every eligible voter can vote and that every vote gets counted. You don’t need to be an elections expert to get involved. At the kickoff, we’ll walk you through the training, tools and support you need to protect the vote in your community. Join us on Aug. 11 at 7 p.m. EDT for the Democracy Defenders kickoff. In unity, More to come from Teachers Defending Democracy. Follow this site. |
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Why Fascists Fear Teachers
by Randi Weingarten
President, AFT
Teachers are under siege not for anything they do wrong, but for what they do right.
An excellent read. (2025)
The title of my new book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers, is intended as a warning, but it may belie what the book is at its core: a love letter to teachers. I write about teachers’ seemingly small everyday acts, like fostering empathy, confidence, critical thinking and mastery, that cultivate opportunity and humanity in our young people. And I look back at historic acts of heroism, such as the teachers in Norway who were among the first and most resolute to protest the Nazi takeover, even when the Nazis tried to violently force them into submission. When I heard that story many years ago, I would never have believed that echoes of authoritarianism would reverberate in the United States today. Nor could I have imagined that this book would come into the world at a time when heinous acts of political violence are occurring with horrifying frequency, violence that I condemn with every fiber of my being. Yet here we are.
Weingarten signing her book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers, on Sept. 16 in New York. Photo credit: Mario Jose Ibarra
I try in this book to answer several questions. Teachers are widely recognized and appreciated for dedicating themselves to helping all children reach their unique potential. So why are there so many attacks on teachers? Why do so many extremist politicians think it’s OK to smear and insult teachers? Why are we seeing the defunding of already strapped schools, the book bans, the censoring of honest history and so many other actions that prevent our children from getting the education they deserve? Why are these actions, which are warning signs of increasing authoritarianism, happening in the United States today?
The answer is that authoritarians fear a well-educated citizenry. They fear what educators do—the teaching of critical thinking, of honest history, of pluralism—because their brand of greed, power and privilege cannot survive in a democracy of diverse, educated citizens. Public education is essential to a free and fair America, and teachers are essential to public education. We’re under siege not for anything we do wrong, but for all the things we do right.
The Founding Fathers believed public education was a bulwark against tyranny. Why Fascists Fear Teachers lays out the plot to undermine public education, which a conservative activist declared outright required his allies to be “ruthless and brutal.”
Extremists are executing that plot with alarming resolve: Starve public schools of the funds they need to succeed, then criticize them for their shortcomings. Erode trust in public schools by stoking fear and division, including attempting to pit parents against teachers. And replace them with homeschooling and private, religious and online schools. All toward their end goal of destroying public education as we know it, atomizing and balkanizing education in America, bullying the most vulnerable among us and leaving the students with the greatest needs in public schools with the most meager resources.
I tell the stories of teachers who have fought for their students and for the promise of public education. I hope educators will see themselves in its pages. And I hope it will help parents, students, policymakers and everyone invested in our nation’s future understand why teachers and public schools are essential to individual opportunity, our collective prosperity and the survival of our democracy.
That feels especially crucial as the country reels from another horrific political assassination. Political violence is never acceptable. Never. As every living former president has said in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, all Americans must condemn violence and de-escalate the tensions roiling the country. In many ways, teachers can serve as the antidote to them, by helping students navigate this trauma and division and by modeling civil discourse.
No one should condone—and certainly no one should celebrate—violence. But in this highly charged moment, many people are paying a high price for exercising constitutionally protected speech, and some have even been accused of hate speech for decrying hate speech. We must recommit as a nation to the right to express ourselves nonviolently without fear and to resolving disagreements peacefully and civilly.
Ninety percent of America’s young people attend public schools, where educators strive to prepare them with the fundamentals for full and productive lives—with the academic foundation they need, of course, as well as the ability to participate in civic life and to work together across differences. Our public schools are America’s great engine of opportunity. They are where teachers dedicate themselves to providing children of every background an education that is safe, welcoming, relevant and engaging. When we strengthen our public schools and support our children’s teachers, we sustain the American dream and democracy itself.
Download the Column (127.38 KB)
The recent ICE killings in Texas and Maine are alarming and ICE arrests in June and July have surged.* States Win Sacramento is acting now to support SEMBRANDO SEMILLAS DAY LABORER WORKER CENTER to protect day laborers, migrants, and low-wage workers. See where you fit in with these important actions.
States Win will continue to highlight this dark moment and uplift our endorsed candidates and alumni who are taking action to stop ICE from terrorizing our communities.
The Coalition Against Project 2025 (CAP2025), of which States Win Sacramento is a founding member, has issued a Call to Action to protect local Home Depot Day Laborers Minneapolis-style. Coalition Partner Sembrando Semillas Day Laborer Worker Center is reporting ongoing harassment by Sheriffs, Home Depot Management, and parking lot security over the past week. (Scroll to the bottom for Good Trouble Lives On Mutual Aid partnership opportunities and to review the Coalition-Building Volunteer Interest Form.)
What: We are organizing the surrounding neighborhoods of the regionwide Home Depots in order to support Day Laborers. They need our help now!
When: We will have infosessions and organizing calls throughout the next week. Please let me know of your availability, so we can make sure to schedule a convenient time for you. Even if you are just spreading the word to your network, your participation is truly critical.
Why: With the most recent ICE killings in Texas and Maine, and ongoing ICE raids in LA, we are shouting out a Call to Action now, to get prepared and organized Minneapolis-style. The chances of the Trump Administration expanding their tactics to Northern California are quite high. LA is just the beginning for the ICE’s next phase of Project 2025 and Stephen Miller’s lethal plans.
How you can make a difference NOW:
- Attend an Adopt a Corner Infosession and spread the word to your network (or let CAP25 know your availability to join a call this week and then spread the word).
- Attend future organizing meetings based on each of the Home Depots to learn more about what Adopt-a-Corner will look like at the Home Depot closest to your home or work.
- Join a Corner team.
- Attend an onsite meeting with Day Laborers, where Sembrando Semillas Executive Directors Fatima and Christina will introduce you to the Day Laborers they have built relationships with over the past few years.
- Bring coffee, break bread.
- Get to know the Day Laborers, even if you don’t speak Spanish! (Our eyes and hearts communicate a lot and translators will be onsite.)
- Show up in solidarity with our brown people without papers whose very lives are at risk right now. Let them know their community cares about their current tribulations
- Join a Corner Signal group to:
- Be alerted to ICE activity and other harassment happening for rapid mobilization.
- Schedule a time for you to be onsite, in solidarity with the day laborers, as a visible watcher, a rapid deployment communicator, a videographer, a mocker of ICE agents, and all activities which are non-violent.
- Support the Day Laborers by funding and delivering food, beverages, diapers for their kids, groceries for their kitchen.
- Help grow the Corner support team by spreading the word and vetting people before they join CAP25 communication channels.
- Administration (onsite calendar management, outreach and follow up through volunteer sign ups, mobilize set-up, data entry, etc).
- Operations (support infosession facilitators, communicating with local, regional, and national leaders and organizations).
- Logistics (coordinating supplies, carpools, and other behind-the-scenes activity).
- Be a co-leader of your Corner team.
- Other needs as they arise in the moment.
As Corner teams are being formed, Brittany Johannson with CAP25 will be a co-lead at all sites in order to facilitate orientation calls, lead trainings, recruit and build out teams, processes, workflows, etc.
Current Corners with a team forming:
- Home Depot
- Howe Ave
- Rancho Cordova
- Florin Rd
- Galt:
- Flea Market & Street Vendors
What neighborhood do you live or work in where you’d like to join a Corner?
Educational Resources:
NDLON Adopt a Corner Training Webinar (Video 07/10/26)
CONTACT INFO
Brittany Johannson, 916.390.6136, brittany.politics@gmail.com
Adopt-a-Corner Co-Lead
Coalition Against Project 2025 cap25.org & opposeproject2025.org
Steering Committee Chair, Partner Liaison, Volunteer Recruitment & Management
Be a part of our team as we fight for democracy in 2026 in the states!
For questions and information about this message from our chapter, please contact info@stateswinsacramento.org
