Christian nationalism. Talk about your oxymorons. Does Mastriano or any of his acolytes even know what Jesus’s teaching are? Mastriano’s latest foray into such self-contradiction is his relationship with the social network platform called Gab. Mastriano paid the platform a $5,000 “advertising consulting fee”, which resulted in Mastriano being automatically followed by every new account created on Gab.
Gab, for those who are unaware, is an extreme right-wing site that specializes in anti-Semitic posts, speech, and tropes. Gab was the site where Robert Bowers spent hours before murdering 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Andrew Torba, Gab’s founder and CEO, has tweeted that “We’re building a parallel Christian society because we are fed up and done with the Judeo-Bolshevik one,”.
While Mastriano has been busy recruiting anti-Semites and “Christian nationalists” to his cause, the state legislature has been steadily converting our educational institutions into religious indoctrination factories. As reported in a recent Spotlight PA article, the state government was in jeopardy of not having a budget due to Republican legislators’ insistence that $125 million be added to the dubious Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program. As explained on the Neighborhood Network’s blog, these tax credits are often mis-used in a fashion that funnels public tax dollars to fund religious indoctrination, rather than academic programs.
Visualize now the Pennsylvania that we would live in if both Mastriano won and a Republican majority took over both houses of the General Assembly. Don’t like what you see? Here’s what you can do about it.
THINGS TO DO
KNOCK DOORS
Wednesdays in Horsham: Wednesdays from 4-6 for Melissa Cerrato for State Rep. SIGN UP HERE.
If you would like to carpool from High Point Allen Lane, please also email geomstern@gmail.com.
Friday, July 22 at 3:30 PM. 7001 Germantown Ave Philadelphia, PA 19119
Join us for a canvass in Mount Airy to talk with your neighbors about electing Democrats up and down the ballot in 2022. SIGN UP HERE.
Saturday, July 23 at 1:00 PM. Overbrook Presbyterian Church 6376 City Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19151
Join us for a canvass in West Philly to talk with your neighbors about electing Democrats up and down the ballot in 2022. SIGN UP HERE.
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POSTCARDS
TUESDAYS FROM 10 AM-12 PM
Join us outside to write postcards together for our state legislative candidates. We’ll be writing for Senator Katie Muth and State Rep Candidate Paul Friel. Postcard stamp donations are always appreciated!
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MAKE CALLS
Northwest Philadelphia Phone Bank: Join from anywhere.
Various days and times
Make Calls for Dems Up and Down the Ballot
Cheltenham Phone Bank: Thursdays, 4 PM - Join from anywhere.
Make Calls for Dems Up and Down the Ballot
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VOTER REGISTRATION
Wed, July 20, 9am – 2pm
Where: USCIS Office, 30 North 41st Street, Philadelphia, PA
The New Pennsylvania Project (NPP) is registering newly naturalized citizens at the USCIS Philadelphia office. Three volunteers per shift each date are needed. Sessions/shifts begin at 9am, 11am, and 2pm. Volunteers are urged to arrive 15 minutes before the start of a shift. A NPP staff person will be there to welcome you and to give you the materials you will need to register folks to vote. If you arrive and nobody is outside, make sure you go inside to attend the ceremony and register voters after they finish. Sign up here.
Wed, July 20, 1 PM – 3 PM Philadelphia Zoo, 3400 W Girard Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Volunteer to register voters in West Philly with the PA Dems!
Wed, July 20, 12pm – 3pm
Where: 3300 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Volunteer to register voters in West Philly with the PA Dems Sign up here.
Thu, July 21, 2pm – 4:30pm
Where: 7700 Crittenden St, Philadelphia, PA 19118
Description: Volunteer to register voters in with the PA Dems! We’ll meet outside of ACME and start our training promptly, so please plan to arrive 5 minutes before your shift start time. Sign up here.
Fri, July 22, 9am – 2pm
Where: USCIS Office, 30 North 41st Street, Philadelphia, PA
Description: The New Pennsylvania Project (NPP) is registering newly naturalized citizens at the USCIS Philadelphia office. Three volunteers per shift each date are needed. Sessions/shifts begin at 9am, 11am, and 2pm. Volunteers are urged to arrive 15 minutes before the start of a shift. A NPP staff person will be there to welcome you and to give you the materials you will need to register folks to vote. If you arrive and nobody is outside, make sure you go inside to attend the ceremony and register voters after they finish. Sign up here.
Fri, July 22, 12pm – 3pm
Where: 3300 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (map)
Description: Volunteer to register voters at Drexel University with the PA Dems! We’ll meet at the Drexel Dragon statue (on the corner of 33rd and Market Streets) and start our training promptly, so please plan to arrive 5 minutes before your shift start time. Sign up here.
For other opportunities, please consult Michael Swayze’s calendar here.
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FUNDRAISER FOR MELISSA CERRATO FOR STATE REP
Local activists and volunteers are hosting a fundraiser in Mt Airy on August 9, from 6-8 PM, for Melissa Cerrato. We hope you can join! SIGN UP & DONATE HERE.
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TEXTING
Interested in trying your hand at texting? The following is a message from our friends at Social Justice Indivisible. I must say, it looks intriguing, and I plan to sign up for one of the workshops.
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Hi all,
I’ve volunteered to work with Ellen and the Social Justice Indivisible team to help coordinate our voter registration text banking efforts this year.
Our next texting opportunity is focused on joining our partner, Field Team 6’s, effort to send voter registration info to their list of 500,000 unregistered voters in PA. Voter registration has proven to be a very effective tactic for winning state-wide races (gotta win our critical Governor and Senate races in PA this year) in presidential election years which typically have consistently high turnouts so we hope you can join in this effort!
Field Team 6 will be holding weekly voter registration boot camps July 21st, July 28th, and August 4th and once you register, they will send you an email with instructions for getting your computer setup to run their system. I recently texted with them and found the process to be very smooth (plus it spared my voice!), and you can feel free to call my cell listed below any time if you run into any tech issues.
One of the other things that I liked about their platform is that you can access their list any day and time you choose so you don’t have to attend pre-set texting events.
Please see the registration link here if you’re interested in participating and if none of the times work, feel free to register in order to get the instructions and I’d be happy to relay the key pointers from the boot camp session.
Please also send me a direct message if you’ve registered so that I can add you to my texting team email list and invite you to a future team potluck and texting session in August.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Mike
Mike McGrory
Cell: (610) 724-1041
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Thanks,
Coleman