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| JAC Members with Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) |
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Week In Review Commentary
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JAC members participated in the Women's March in many cities around the country. We marched in Washington, DC, Florida, New York, Boston, Denver, Chicago, San Diego, Los Angeles, where we lent our voices to those standing up for reproductive rights, immigration, equality, and climate science. The energy and passion was overwhelming.
But the euphoria quickly faded when President Donald Trump, on his first Monday as President, signed an anti-abortion executive order. The week became worse with a steady flow of Congressional bills aimed at reducing and eliminating women's access to abortion care and family planning. He is working with the GOP
to prevent women from receiving safe and legal reproductive health care in the U.S. and around the world. The war on women is real and Trump won't stop until he has successfully overturned Roe v Wade.
Now is not the time to be discouraged - we cannot give up! Now is the time to come together.
Join JAC as we channel our energy, rage, and hope to make a difference. Commit to following through on Action Alerts, join us for days of Action, come with us to Washington, DC in May to take our message to the halls of Congress.
NOW is the time to act. Together we have the power to make our voices heard and defend and protect our rights!
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Tell Your Representatives
Vote NO
on HR 586
"Sanctity of Human Life Act"
202.224.3121
Passage of HR 586 would essentially outlaw abortion, IVF, and many forms of birth control. It would:
- Deem life to begin at fertilization and would attempt to classify fertilized eggs, zygotes, embryos, and fetuses as people with rights, including the right to life under the U.S. Constitution
- Effectively outlaw invitro fertilization
- Ban numerous forms of contraception
- Would negatively affect health care of pregnant women
Find your Representatives here.
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Tell your Senators
VOTE NO
Passage of HR7 would make the Hyde Amendment permanent, banning abortion coverage from federally funded insurance plans and those purchases through an ACA exchange - even for women using their own private funds to pay for insurance!
Find your Senators here.
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Is Trump Walking Back the Israel Embassy Move?
If Trump elects not to move the embassy in the early days of his administration, it is harder to imagine him doing it later. As he settles into office, one hopes that he will become more acquainted with the enormous risks and empty symbolism of a gesture that wouldn't change anything on a practical level for Israel or the United States, or for their relationship. Above all, he and his team will, presumably, hear more clearly from Israeli national security establishment officials and others who might be enthusiastic about the idea in theory, while recognizing the major costs it would entail for them.
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Top State Department Officials Ousted As Trump Administration Takes Shape
The Trump administration began cleaning house Thursday in the State Department by ousting four top officials. Those exiting include Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy, Assistant Secretary of Administration, Joyce Barr; Gentry Smith, who heads the department's Office of Foreign Missions, and the Director of the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations, Lydia Muniz. Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs, Michele Bond, who was responsible for the agency's visa program, was also asked to leave.
Read Full Article
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How Trump Unnerves Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is approaching Republican newcomer Donald Trump with far more caution and reserve than anyone anticipated. The prime minister has any number of reasons to tread carefully with the new president. For one thing, it's not at all clear where Trump will come down on settlements, and neither is it clear how long he'll stick with whatever he says. All those combine to make him unpredictable and unsteady, among the most dangerous qualities a world leader can have. For all Netanyahu's relief that Republicans now hold the White House, he has good reason - indeed, many good reasons - to be wary.
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First Situation Room to Combat BDS Opens in U.S.
ACT.IL, a joint initiative of the Israeli American Council (IAC) and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC) to combat the delegitimization of Israel on social media, has opened its first "virtual situation room" in the U.S. The situation room, located in Boston, runs simulated exercises on developing pro-Israel social media campaigns during times of crisis. ACT.IL aims to combat the BDS movement and the delegitimization of Israel through uniting a global community of pro-Israel activists on social media in a coordinated effort to inform and influence people on Israel.
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Jewish Groups Decry Trump Draft Order Temporarily Barring Some Refugees
Jewish groups have decried the executive order from President Donald Trump that would temporarily bar refugees and immigrants from some Muslim countries from entering the United States. Groups, like ADL, slammed the proposal calling it cruel and contrary to U.S. values. Groups also recalled past Jewish suffering in opposing the executive order. Ahead of the Holocaust, the United States denied entry to Jewish refugees, most notably turning back the S.S. St. Louis, a ship carrying nearly 1,000 German Jews.
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Donald Trump Signs Anti-Abortion Executive Order
Surrounded by other white men, President Donald Trump signed an anti-abortion executive order that has far-reaching consequences for women's reproductive health access around the world. This has severe implications and could be deadly for women and girls in developing countries and conflict zones, who often resort to dangerous methods of ending their pregnancies when they lack access to safe abortion.
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The Controversial Bill Aims to Limit Abortion and Women's Rights
It is time to get bill H.R. 586 on your radar. The controversial bill was introduced in the House of Representatives last week, while everyone was buzzing around getting ready for the inauguration. Sponsored by Georgia Rep. Jody Hice, a Republican, the bill would aim to define life at the time of fertilization. The bill aims, according to Hice's website, "to end the plight of abortion on our nation." He would like to define life at conception "without exception."
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H.R. 7 & Its Impact on Women
The House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 7, a piece of anti-choice legislation aimed at making it harder for women to access affordable abortions. The bill states that taxpayer money cannot be used to fund abortions. When government funds cannot be used to cover abortion, women on public programs like Medicaid do not receive any abortion coverage. This restriction hits exactly the same people who have the most trouble paying for an abortion out-of-pocket.
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A State-by-State Look at What Will Happen If Roe v. Wade Is Overturned
If Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion access would be secure in only 17 states. That means more than 37 million women in 33 states could lose their right to make choices about their own bodies.
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Father and Son Accused of Rape Want 'Only Law Book that Truly Matters' at Their Trial: The Bible
A father and son accused of raping a teenage girl over a three-year period and keeping her shackled in a basement have made it clear that they don't have faith in the law or in the people who practice it. When they face an Ohio jury, as they defend themselves against criminal charges that carry long prison sentences, they will rely on one book: The Bible.
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Texas Republicans Launch New Wave of Assaults on LGBT Rights
Donald Trump and his cadre of Beltway Republicans are dominating the news cycle. But it's also important to pay attention to what's going on in the states, where the same reactionary revolt that lifted Trump to the White House is playing out closer to the ground. In Texas, for instance, Republicans who are still enraged about the legalization of same-sex marriage by the Supreme Court in 2015 have launched two major attacks on LGBT rights. Polling suggests that large majorities of Americans oppose these bathroom laws and support same-sex marriage. But the election of Trump signals to conservatives that being unpopular doesn't necessarily preclude political victory.
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Supreme Court Rejects Texas Voter ID Appeal
The Supreme Court said it will not hear an appeal of a lower court's ruling striking down a Texas law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, effectively killing one of the strictest such laws in the nation. The law required voters to show one of seven acceptable forms of photo identification at the polls, including a driver's license, a passport, a permit to carry a concealed handgun, or an election identification certificate.
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Gun Stores Get Sold On Suicide Prevention
There was talk at the industry's largest trade event of starting a unique partnership to educate gun shop owners and shooting range operators of a nationwide suicide prevention program. Project 2025 is a collaboration between AFSP, the country's largest suicide prevention organization, and the NSSF, which represents thousands of gun retailers and manufacturers across the country. The program has an ambitious goal of stopping nearly 10,000 deaths in the next decade.
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Why Trump's Inauguration is Not the Beginning of an Era- But the End
Founder of a media company feels Trump is doing America and the world a service by becoming the vehicle that will finally take down right-wing conservative politics for generations. He will completely and irrevocably alienate all the growing political constituencies of the 21st century: the Millennial Generation, people of color, educated professionals, women. He'll eventually do the same for a significant number of more moderate Republicans. A Hillary Clinton win would not have brought about that kind of political transformation.
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What to Expect in Trump's First 100 Days
Trump and his team are determined to deliver quickly on promises - on the economy, healthcare, tax reform and immigration - that critics told him he could not possibly fulfill. During his campaign, Trump embraced the notion of a first-100-day flurry in which he would quickly put his stamp on Washington. 100-day priorities include withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, reversing regulations on fracking, reviewing all federal funding for nonprofit organizations and formulating a new approach to countering Islamic State.
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Looking for a Spanish Version of Whitehouse.gov? No Existe
Americans looking for information in Spanish about the Trump administration or White House history will have to wait a bit longer, Just after President Trump took office,
WhiteHouse.gov/espanol
went dark, with an error message explaining that "the page you're looking for can't be found." The Obama administration regularly updated versions of the White House website in Spanish and a companion Twitter account.
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Why Millions Gathers to Say 'No' to Trump
In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump offered no outreach to his adversaries with a take-no-prisoners message. They heard it, and were ready to return the favor. The Women's March on Washington and across the country drew millions who signaled plainly that they would not be cowed into silence or demobilized into a sullen indifference. If power shifted decisively to Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress, passion switched sides as well. The political energy in the country is now arrayed against Trump and his agenda.
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Mary Tyler Moore Turned the World on to Fully Imagined Jewish Characters
There are plenty of paradigms in the history of humor for how Jews and non-Jews get along, or don't: as persecutors and victims, as saviors and saved, as allies against a common oppressor. All these are fraught with the tensions between the powerful and the disempowered, which makes sense: fear drives humor. But there is a uniquely American paradigm, one devoid of fear, instead celebrating the Jew as an inextricable part of the national fabric. Its best exemplar was Mary Tyler Moore, who died Wednesday at 80.
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Stephen Bannon Registered to Vote In Two States
President Trump's Chief White House Strategist Stephen Bannon is registered to vote in two states - a fact that would dub him one of the very vote fraudsters that his boss has inaccurately blasted in recent days. According to the Florida Division of Elections, Bannon is an active registered Republican voter in Nokomis, Fla. Per the New York State Board of Elections, Bannon is also registered as an active Republican voter in Manhattan.
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"I'm here today to honor our democracy and its enduring values. I will never stop believing in our country and its future."
- Hillary Clinton at President Donald Trump's Inauguration (1/20/17)
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DAY OF ACTION
Tuesday, January 31
10 am - 3 pm
JAC Office
Join us to take action on issues important to JAC
_____________
Fundraising Breakfast
with
Senator Tim Kaine
Monday, February 6th
8-9 am
Chicago, IL
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Talking Points - Deerfield
Featuring Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-8)
and Aviv Ezra - Israel Consul General to the Midwest
Monday, February 13
9:30-11:00 am
Deerfield, IL
Details to follow
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Join JAC on Capitol Hill!
JAC's Annual Meeting
May 3-4th
Washington, DC
Details to follow
__________________
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Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs (JACPAC) is a pro-Israel PAC with a domestic agenda. We support a strong U.S.-Israel relationship and advocate for reproductive health and the separation of religion and state and incorporate other issues of importance to the Jewish community, including gun violence prevention and climate change. In addition to providing financial support for U.S. Senate and House campaigns, JACPAC educates our membership with outreach events designed to inform and activate their participation in the political process.
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Paid for by Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs. Contributions or gifts are not tax deductible. Contributions may total up to $5400 per individual ($2700 for the primary election, and $2700 for the general election). Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation, and name of employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 in an election cycle. Corporate contributions and contributions from non-US citizens who are not lawfully admitted for permanent residence are prohibited. All contributions by individuals must be made from personal funds and may not be reimbursed or paid by another person.
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