The statewide canvass launch is Sept. 22. We will be turning out – for instance -- those 300,000-plus Prince George’s voters who turned out in 2012 for the presidential election but not in 2014. Larry Hogan won by fewer than 70,000 votes. Do the math, and join us.

Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for September 10-17 2018

The statewide canvass launch is Sept. 22. We will be turning out – for instance -- those 300,000-plus Prince George’s voters who turned out in 2012 for the presidential election but not in 2014. Larry Hogan won by fewer than 70,000 votes. Do the math, and join us.

ACTIVISM STATEWIDE

General Election Canvasses in Anne Arundel, Frederick and more – get the details and join up here.

OUR CHAPTERS AROUND THE STATE

Progressive Prince George’s

Every Saturday morning – join Prince George’s teachers and activists in a solidarity canvass to boost voting for gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous!

Sign up here

Saturday, September 22, Participatory Defense Community Meeting  for the Mass Liberation Campaign at 01:00 PM at Oakcrest Community Center rsvp

PMD Montgomery

Take Action Anne Arundel County

Action Report: Resolution 30-18 Voted Down at the September 4th County Council Meeting

Over two hundred people attended the County Council meeting and 75 signed up to testify about Resolution 30-18, a statement about the humanity of pre-born children and the action of tracking data on women who obtain abortions in Anne Arundel County. Those who were for the resolution saw the importance of stating the humanity of pre-born children. Those who were against saw this as a first step to overturn state and federal law protecting the rights of women to have an abortion and an overstep in the privacy of women's health care decisions.

Most of those who signed up didn't start to testify until 11:00 pm when the meeting started at 7:00 pm. After about two hours of testimony both for and against, the vote was taken in the wee hours of the following morning. Four councilmen voted nay and the resolution did not pass. One Republican councilman crossed party lines to vote against this resolution.  

Members of the Take Action Anne Arundel County chapter testified against this resolution with other local activists, Planned Parenthood, Naral Pro-Choice, and medical experts. Citing personal experiences about how a legal abortion saved their life. Citing scientific evidence that abortion does not have a psychological impact on the mental health of a woman. Citing the importance of Planned Parenthood services for young women and the lack of women of color in the room who may not have been able to attend this council meeting to testify about this resolution. Citing the inappropriate use of power by a Majority Republican council to bring a resolution that was outside the purview of the County Council and the lack of definitive action for the children who already live in the county when it comes to education funding, paying the salaries of teachers, police, and firefighters in the community, clean water, and clean air.  

Chapter Events:

Thursday September 20 at 7pm -- Education, Immigration & Canvassing 

• Take Action Anne Arundel County has been researching and planning local issue campaigns. Our first action is focused on Funding Education. The Education Lockbox Amendmentis on the November 6 ballot. Voters will be deciding whether the state constitution is amended to require the state to use casino revenue to supplement the education budget. We all thought this was decided years ago but in actuality there was never a law in place requiring the state to use the casino funds specifically for education. We need the majority of registered voters to VOTE YES. Are you in? We need volunteers to help get the word out to registered voters.
• Anne Arundel County is moving to an elected school board for the first time.  Take Action Anne Arundel County plans to have Candidate Forums for Board of Education candidates in County Districts 4, 5 and 7. We are looking for volunteers to help organize these forums. If Education is a concern for you, join us! 
• Take Action Anne Arundel County will be kicking off canvassing events for the General Election beginning in September. We are looking for a Canvass Captain, canvass hosts, canvassers and phone bankers. If you want to support getting progressive candidates elected, WE WANT YOU! We will be talking about our slate of PM endorsed candidates during our monthly meeting. 
• RSVP here

Saturday, September 22 --- Canvass in Annapolis

More details to come. 

RSVP here.

Progressive Howard County

Progressive HoCo’s site furnishes very detailed information on candidates in county elections.

PMD Baltimore

After a long struggle with the moody spirits of the World Wide Web, we have a Baltimore chapter link! Check out our health care blog post.

Talbot Rising

Saturday, September 15, Please attend Talbot Rising’s LAST PUSH General Meeting,  from 10-12 at the Easton Library to get plugged in. Judy Wixted, Queen of Democratic GOTV, will share the Democratic Party’s analysis and strategy of what it will take to win in November, and have a schedule of phone banking and canvassing you can sign up for. See more in the Sept. 3 Talbot Rising Newsletter.

Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

Lower Shore Progressive Caucus has a new blog post refuting misconceptions about gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous.

EVENTS FROM OUR ALLIES

Thursday September 13• Film: Reinventing Power: America’s Renewable Energy Boom. Reinventing Power takes us across the country to hear from the people making our clean energy future achievable. It underscores that we don’t have to sacrifice jobs for a clean environment.  This 50-minute Sierra Club film will be followed by discussion led by Dr. Al Bartlett, co-lead of the Sierra Club's campaign for 100% renewable energy in Maryland by 2035.  Encore Theater, Riderwood Village Retirement Community, Calverton/Silver Spring, , , 7:15 pm.  To register and for directions: https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7010Z000002B1LLQA0.  Contact: Jim Henkelman-Bahn ([email protected], 301-445-1752).

    NOTE: Wednesday, October 3, • “Re-inventing Power” will be shown at Greenbelt Community Center, Room 114, 7 pm.  
https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7010Z000002B3YaQAK. Contact: Lore Rosenthal ([email protected], 301-345-2234).  Co-sponsored by the Prince George’s Sierra Club and the Greenbelt Climate Action Network. 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 15 "DISCUSSING DRUG DECRIMINALIZATION: CANNABIS TO OPIOIDS" 10 AM - 12 PM Montgomery College Germantown Campus

Each year, there are more than 1.5 million drug arrests in the United States. More than 80% of these arrests are for possession only. Twenty-two states have already decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, and some are exploring the merits of decriminalizing other drugs. The opioid crisis has jumpstarted the conversation on the best approach to drug use across the country, including in Maryland. Partners: Drug Policy Alliance, Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition, the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, Indivisible Montgomery, Kolmac Outpatient Recovery Center

Join our partners and our PM-endorsed candidate Ben Jealous at "Discussing Drug Decriminalization: Cannabis to Opioids" -- Saturday, September 15^th -- 10 AM - 12 PM Montgomery College Germantown Campus. 20200 Observation Drive Bioscience Education conference room 151 Germantown, MD 20876. More info and RSVP here

Monday, Sept. 17 Reel and Meal at the New Deal 11th Anniversary Celebration, live reading of "19-The Musical" --  the dynamic and little-known story of Alice Paul, the suffragists and their fight to get women the right to vote — the 19th Amendment. This special live production is performed by local award-winning theater, film and media company Through the 4th Wall. At the New Deal Cafe, Roosevelt Center, Greenbelt. Optional vegan meal is $14 at 6:30 p.m., performance is free at 7. More information here.

Saturday, September 22 -- MD Poor People’s Campaign has partnered with the River Road UU Congregation and DoTheMostGood (DTMG) to lead a nonpartisan Democracy Bootcamp at River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation from 10:00 AM – 1:30 PM.
Participants will learn skills that can enable and support our democracy. Ashwani Jain, former White House staffer, will be the keynote speaker, along with Danielle Blocker from the MD Poor People’s Campaign. Learn from Organizers How to Take Effective Actions -- This is in preparation for Voter Registration and Canvassing in Montgomery County on September 29.
Please RSVP to ensure adequate provisions. For questions contact Vonna Heaton at [email protected]  

 Baltimore comrades, Check in on Max Obuszewski’s highly useful calendar and tip sheet at http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

It all happens for free… right? Not exactly. Organizing for change in our society and our high-maintenance politics requires both people and money. Keep change moving with a quick, secure impulse-buy contribution here. You know you meant to do it last week and now here you are again...

OUR BLOG POSTS IN THE PAST WEEK

Reading the Progressive Maryland BlogSpace: our blogs for the previous week are shown below, but if you want a handy way to keep track – and never miss a blog post – you can sign up to get this Weekly Memo by email. Remember this is your blogspace and your participation is heartily invited. See something going on that you don’t like – or that you do like and hope to see more of? Send us your thoughts; submit to the moderator at [email protected]

We recently published these blog posts:

September 05, 2018 The (very) high cost of commuting on Lexus Lanes

Good Morning, Frederick: Ready to pay $82 for a fast round trip to work in the Metro area? Larry Hogan's plan to privatize new toll lanes on I-270 figures to cost that, even just based on Virginia's experience today. Better rail is a better idea, transit expert/advocate Ben Ross points out, than Lexus Lanes -- which could cost you $159 for every hour you save in the morning rush.

September 04, 2018 Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for September 4-11

Time to hit the home stretch. According to campaign legend, Labor Day Weekend is when most everyday voters look up from the grill and notice that there's an election in November. Somehow that seems unlikely in this election cycle. The intensity of feeling that has built up over the last two years has raised folks' appreciation for the importance of this midterm election.

There will be lots of expensive media, bankrolled by the 1 percent, trying to persuade everyone that everything is really not bad, that Larry Hogan has done a good job for a Republican (!) and that things are rolling along OK.

It shouldn't be hard to debunk that nonsense -- but it won't happen without work, without the clarity of alternatives to business as usual. That's why we do what we do. Join us.

September 03, 2018 Organizing is the secret sauce for moving from grievance to governance

Regaining democracy's people power -- after the Right's 40-year game plan has brought us today's Trumpster fire -- takes work, but we know how to do it. James Mumm of People's Action walks us through the plan to "move from grievance to governance, and from protest to power." It's a plan that works in large part because it doesn't depend on the 1%'s money but the 99%'s mobilization, starting at the local and state level in the pattern followed by Progressive Maryland and the other state affiliates of People's Action.

August 31, 2018 Discussing Drug Decriminalization from Cannabis to Opioids: An Upcoming Forum

Drug decriminalization in Maryland and across the US has great promise for easing both the huge public cost of mass incarceration and the social and individual impacts that drugs and their consequences have. Veronica Wright outlines her introduction to the issue and how decriminalization -- with other social provision -- has worked well abroad and in other states, and can work in Maryland. She has initiated a forum on the topic Sept. 15 at Montgomery College/Germantown.

 >>REMEMBER – these blog posts are expressions of political opinion from our wide-ranging membership and circle of allies. They are not expressions of opinion by Progressive Maryland. Don’t be surprised if they sometimes vary in their political content. You might even disagree with them – a good reason to contribute a blog of your own. Send it to the moderator, Woody Woodruff, at [email protected].

>>Keeping up with the blogs is easier with the index. The blogs published in the PM BlogSpace from June 2015 through December 2016 are all available with descriptions and links here. You can follow blogs for 2017-18 starting from here