• The Gov Hub
  • Posts
  • The Gov Hub Newsletter: October 21, 2024

The Gov Hub Newsletter: October 21, 2024

McDonalds Drive-thru and fast food's super fan [Trump], Elon poss. buying votes, candidates and ballot measure guides

Author

Gov Hub
October 21, 2024

Welcome to The Gov Hub Newsletter by Girl and the Gov®. This weekly pop of politics is designed to share action items, resources, & quick links to civic engagement tools & topics. Find a typo? Congrats, today is your lucky day!

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

THE ACTION ITEMS

Get ‘em done from your phone

ACTION 1 – CHILD MARRIAGE

The Ask: Tell Senator Dick Durbin to amend his federal bill on child marriage.

The Background: Senator Dick Durbin introduced a bill – S. 4990 – that would do the opposite of its promise, which would be to combat child marriage in the U.S. However, it would actually become a roadblock for making that reality, sparking asks from survivors to civil society orgs, and more for him to amend the bill.

ACTION 2 – VETERANS

The Ask: Tell the Pentagon to protect veterans from toxins in a timely fashion.

The Background: A new report from DAV and MOAA has found veterans have to wait an average of 34.1 years from the date of exposure to toxins on the job to when the VA officially and formally acknowledges that the exposure caused the illness being experienced by the veteran. That means a delay in care and worse health outcomes. 

ACTION 3 – VOTING

The Ask: Plan your voter day with your friends – get brunch after, pick-ups coffees together, or post-voting drinks.

The Background: We are yet again telling you to make a plan – on repeat.

Looking for more action items? Check our library of past Gov Hub’s.

FULL SEND…TO A FRIEND

Just about guaranteed to make it to the group chat

  • Elon Musk is bending the possibilities of the law [and debatably breaking it] by writing $1 million checks each day until the election to “someone who signs his online petition.” Officials in PA, including Governor Shapiro, are ringing alarm bells about this given that it’s literally a federal crime to pay people “with the intention of inducing or rewarding those people to cast a vote or to get registered to vote.” Overall sentiment: if you’re worried about money in politics – take a look – a direct look at Elon Musk.

  • Fast food super-fan, Donald Trump, did a campaign cameo moment this weekend at a McDonalds in PA. On site, he wore an apron and served the drive thru window, and capped it off with making up falsehoods about VP Harris’s time working at a McDonalds back in the day. Fun for the whole fam!

  • Also from the weekend WTFs, Trump went on a ramble at his PA rally about Arnold Palmer [RIP]’s dick size……………….. 

  • How did that kid land themselves in the alt-right pipeline? This provides a look at how extreme hate groups are recruiting kids online.

  • The Biden-Harris Admin wants to expand contraception coverage under the ACA [ObamaCare/Affordable Care Act], with this proposed rule.

  • This candidate for Iowa House was caught on a security cam door while knocking saying that she’s not “your candidate” for “women’s rights.” Big sigh.

GOOD NEWS BEARS

Positive political wins [yes, those do exist]

800+ LGBTQ VETERANS GRANTED HONORABLE DISCHARGE STATUS BY PENTAGON: Last year – yes, that year was 2023 – Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had announced that the Defense Department would review the records of LGBTQ veterans who were previously dismissed from service under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” era of policy that banned openly LGBTQ people from serving in the U.S. military. Following that review, the Pentagon has issued 800+ honorable discharges to those impacted by the now repealed policy. The change in discharge status for those veterans means access to military benefits like health care and educational assistance/programs.

ONE MILLION PUBLIC SERVICE WORKERS HAVE RECEIVED STUDENT LOAN CANCELLATION: It’s all in the numbers with this story – via the changes and improvements made to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness [PSLF] under the Biden-Harris Administration, over one million public service workers, from teachers to firefighter to nurses, and more are the recipients of student loan relief. The one million benchmark comes as the result of 60,000 more public service workers being able to access the benefits of the program – those that they are legally entitled to via the bipartisan legislation that created the PSLF in 2007, but had been implemented in such an abysmal way that it made accessing its benefits near impossible. Thanks to the updates made – which, what a list! – the process has been streamlined for borrowers.

HGW LISTENS

Hit play on these pods

ELECTION SZN 2024

Guides, chatter, who’s who

  • Arizona’s top dog election’s head, Adrian Fontes, Secretary of State, told Politico how they’re preparing to fight an expected disinformation battle 2.0 against elections. And in that same vein, Arizona’s State Election Director, Lisa M. Marra transparently shared how the logic and accuracy testing they do on their voting equipment works.

  • TBH, election day should be a federal holiday. In these states, election day is already a state holiday, with most state offices in each closed for the day.

  • These two states – specifically their voters – on opposite sides of the country will decide on whether tipped workers should continue to have a lower minimum wage rate or if the practice should get the ax.

  • California loves a ballot measure, or like honestly having so many ballot measures it gives CVS receipt vibes. This guide provides the 411 on all of them, so you can prep for the polls.

  • In endorsement news, Republican Former Ohio Governor Bob Taft endorsed Senator Sherrod Brown for re-election.

  • Avril Lavigne once asked “why’d you have to go and make things so complicated?” and AP posed that question to Arizona and Nebraska, which both have competing ballot measures this year, specifically asking “what happens if both pass?” per state.

  • State Supreme Court races are heating up and these are the B I G ones to watch [and remind friends about].

MUST-SUBSCRIBES

Newsletters worth a dabble

  • #VIRAL: In the clerb we’re all fam, and with #VIRAL, we’re all up on the latest content trends that social media managers in the political space [and beyond] need to know each week. Get on the list before Tuesday’s [free!] drop here.

  • 2 Minute Download: Every Friday, the 2 Minute Download from the NewDeal highlights what to know in state and local policy and politics, including the best work and most promising solutions from the NewDEAL network of pragmatic, innovative elected leaders across the country. Give it a whirl and subscribe here.

  • USAFacts Newsletter: Nonpartisan and filled with facts, the USAFacts Newsletter is a resource for election szn and beyond. Get on the list for fun [and sometimes unfun] facts, here.

THE VARSITY VOTER COLLECTION

Vote from the couch-ready merch

Join the varsity voting team with our new merch drop [and by checking-in with all of your friends to make sure they have a voter plan]. Perfect for voting from your couch – the Varsity Voter Collection includes cozy crewnecks and joggers, which BTW are also great to do phone banking in.

KEY READS

Important stories from around the USA

  • Texas Public Radio: Robert Roberson set to testify before Texas lawmakers days after they saved him from execution

  • Politico: Another House GOP leadership battle brews

  • The Hill: Trump: Saudi crown prince ‘a great guy’

BEFORE YOU GO…

..say hello

START HERE 

OR HERE