rally – R&R – Reachout and Rebuild

Stepien or Parscale? The Corona virus does not care.

David Posnett — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 03:36:18 +0000

WaPo reports that “Trump replaces campaign manager as polls show him trailing Joe Biden in 2020 race”.

President Trump announced on Facebook Wednesday evening that Bill Stepien would become his campaign manager, replacing Brad Parscale,…

Recent national and swing-state polls have shown Trump falling further behind former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, …amid a spreading pandemic that has greatly harmed the economy.

Honestly? All they can think about is control of the narrative. The Trump campaign still isn’t taking this seriously. No one wears masks? And that includes Trump’s followers, like Lee Zeldin, who attended the Tulsa rally and then returned on Airforce 1 with other Trump loyalists (no masks in sight) – see picture.

Mass gatherings and rallies? Still OK. The Republican convention in Florida? Or wherever they can find a compliant governor? OK. Parties and mass gatherings for July 4th? OK. And now, we are starting to see an uptick of new cases of Covid-19 including in Suffolk County NY.

It’s unavoidable. The virus doesn’t care about politics. By-passing the CDC for political control of the numbers of new cases and the reports from the hospitals? Still, the virus doesn’t care.

It is stunning that these people think they can out-maneuver SARS CoV-2. And as long as we don’t control the pandemic there is no hope of rescuing the economy.

It might be useful to read some history books. The plague easily triumphed over competing European superpowers of the time:

#NotAboveTheLaw – Rallies across America

David Posnett — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 04:33:10 +0000

On the eve preceding the historic vote of congress to impeach President Trump, there were rallies across America: more than 500 rallies in 50 states involving perhaps 0.5 Mio protestors.

I attended the rally in Patchogue NY, in front of the offices of Lee Zeldin, Trump apologist extraordinaire. The story is already on News 12. And here it is in Newsday.

It was truly electrifying. In pouring and freezing rain, some 500 protestors showed up!

A note from one of the organizers: Last night’s ‘impeach and remove’ event in Patchogue was a huge success! Despite the freezing rain, more than 500 people turned out to uphold the constitution, defend our democracy, and stand for the rule of law. (Read about the event in Newsday and News12LI.)

The patriotism, commitment, and indomitable spirit of those who attended was inspiring!

Whatever happens in the Senate, rest assured that we are on the right side of history.

Thanks! Amy

Here are some videos and photos:

A Mom Speaks Out: Wake up America, we are at War!

David Posnett — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 22:50:15 +0000

Speaking at Tuesday’s Feb 20 Rally on gun violence and international security: Mara Gerstein

Thank you for being here. I’m Mara. I’m a mom, a lifelong New Yorker, and a constituent of Lee Zeldin. And I’m here to tell my representative, and everyone who will listen, that as of this week, I am a single issue voter.

I only vote for people who will take basic steps to protect me and my family from preventable threats – both foreign and domestic. I am here to tell Rep Zeldin that if he cannot fight for the most basic measures to keep our children safe from gun violence. If he cannot fight for our country to defend itself from information and cyber warfare, then he is worse than useless to any of us.

Trump and Rep Zeldin and so many men like them run on “law and order”, borders, “security”, building up our military, “keeping us safe”. And here we are: 100 of us dying daily from gun violence, another day, another school shooting. Another 15, 20, 50 young lives lost. There is not a parent in this country who wasn’t afraid to send their children to school this week. There wasn’t a kid over the age of 5 in America who didn’t sit in their
classrooms this week afraid that maybe they were next. What is this? Why do we have to live like this? When the majority of Americans are desperate for sensible gun safety laws, why is Lee Zeldin actively working hard to make gun laws more lax?

At what point does this failure to address gun violence become a dereliction of his basic duty to protect us? At what point? A long time ago!

We have a couple of brilliant people who will talk more about our so-called “moderate” congressman’s voting record on gun safety so we can all understand why the NRA loves Zeldin so much. But I want to talk about one specific bill, voted on and passed by the House of Representatives in December. H.R. 38/ Senate Bill 446, the so called “concealed carry reciprocity” bill. It means that states with the weakest requirements for allowing people to carry concealed, loaded guns in their communities will set the national standard. So whereas now states are free to decide what gun laws will keep their communities safe, and can then enter into agreements with other states to honor out of state gun laws. Concealed Carry would mean that all states would be forced to accept the lowest gun safety standards in the country. And no one is talking about it.

It is time that we understand – and make sure everyone we know understands – what HR 38 / Senate Bill 446 – Concealed Carry will mean for New York.

NY awards concealed carry permission only to citizens with justifiable need who are not a danger to themselves or others, and can demonstrate a high level of knowledge of firearm use and safety. Our laws recognize and protect us from the potential threat of dangerous and violent people carrying concealed guns. This is one reason why NY has such a low incidence of gun deaths and injuries per capita. If the NRA – with the tens of millions of dollars they have spent to do so — succeeds in getting the Senate to pass Zeldin’s Concealed Carry Bill it would put domestic abusers and people convicted of violent crimes with hidden weapons on the streets of our towns — Patchogue, Bellport, Montauk, Smithtown, etc. I want Zeldin to tell me how this will make it more safe for me and my child to walk those streets, to go to school, to go to work. Tell me how!

And when you tell me, I will tell you this. You are lying to our faces. More guns, more concealed weapons, and looser gun laws will not make us safer. Until you stop serving the NRA over your constituents, until you stop selling our children’s lives to gun manufacturers, we are all single issue voters. And I ask all of you to tell everyone you know, about what HR 38 / Senate Bill 446 – Concealed Carry will do to NY and why it is
keeping you up at night. Here’s what else is keeping me up at night! We learned this week that there is incontrovertible evidence that the US is under attack from a foreign adversary. What most defense experts are calling the worst attack on our country since 9/11.

We know that Russia penetrated the systems of our major political parties, tampered with our voting machines, discouraged voting with fake information and media campaigns built on lies, that they rounded up support for Trump and are sowing disinformation and confusion about the harm he is inflicting upon us every day. We know that Russia helped sway public opinion to push Al Franken out of office. That they are acting to control social discourse after the Parkland shooting last week. America
needs to wake up. We are at war.

And the president said nothing. He attacks the FBI and goes golfing. He spends NO TIME thinking about how to protect us from the very real threat that Russia will decide in 2018, who runs our government. Russia, is clearly exercising control over the people they have handpicked for the job. Why are Trump and Zeldin doing nothing? Why won’t Trump institute sanctions (H.R. 3364) that were passed by a huge margin 419-3 in the House?

Why is that ok with Zeldin? Is it because the GOP & Zeldin know that they can only stay in power with Russia’s help? Well I’m sorry. That’s too bad. If you can only keep your jobs with Russian help, you’re out. This is OUR country. Not Russia’s.

The people in Washington running the Republican party are dirty. They give tax cuts to the rich and spend millions of dollars to fly first class, and in the same breath take away veterans healthcare, children’s healthcare, food for the poor. They are dirty and corrupt from the inside out. Lying to the FBI, money laundering, tax evasion, defrauding consumers, bank fraud, exploiting their office for personal gain.

Before we even get to collusion with a foreign adversary, if even half of the things these people are accused of are true, Republican leadership in Washington should be in jail. And if they were black they would be.

Every day in this country feels more and more like a national version of the godfather. Here’s what we know. 130 white house staff didn’t have security clearance as of Nov of 2017. The people with the highest levels of security access in the country, have been deemed by our FBI to be unfit for that access. Unfit means that – for whatever reason – be it domestic abuse or foreign debts or lying repeatedly on disclosure forms – our top law enforcement has said that giving these people access puts our lives in danger.

This is not hyberbole. Our government is burning. It is being run by people who are beholden, literally, financially and probably more, to a foreign adversary, and special interests, like the NRA, that is controlled by companies who sell guns and, it turns out, has its own ties to Russia.

What has happened, and is happening, in our government is so insane that we can’t admit it. Because no one knows what to do in the face of this all being true.

What does Donald Trump do? He goes golfing. And what does Lee Zeldin do? He defends him. And worse. Zeldin is actively working to derail the Russia investigation and to attack people who have devoted their lives to protecting our country. A proud member of Devin Nunes #CoverUpCaucus, Zeldin is doing far worse than nothing. Just this morning on Twitter, Zeldin continues his constant and desperate scramble to undermine the efforts of those who are trying to understand what happened and protect us from attack.

And all of these people – Trump, Zeldin, Devin Nunes – every person who holds elected office – has taken an oath to “protect and defend our constitution.” And they won’t even try. A basic dereliction of duty to perform their basic oath of office.

So we are all single issue voters! If Zeldin cannot take basic steps to protect us from threats – both foreign and domestic – he is worse than useless, he is doing us great harm. He is endangering our children, our rule of law, our constitution, and our basic rights as Americans. Zeldin, we are all single issue voters. If you cannot put basic gun safety measures in place, you need to step aside. If you fail to recognize and respond to Russia’s attacks, you need to step aside. You need to step aside and make room for someone who will do their job to protect us and to protect our constitution.

Put Our Safety First

David Posnett — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 01:52:59 +0000

Tuesday Feb 20th, 3 PM: Rally in Patchogue at Lee Zeldin’s Patchogue Office

Put Our Safety First – Protect the Russia Investigation/ Gun Reform Now!

Zeldin’s voting record on guns:

“Mr. Zeldin has accepted $14,850 from the NRA since his first congressional run, the most of any sitting NY representative, and has earned NRA’s A rating” –Editorial, East Hampton Star, 10/05/17

Co-sponsored Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which compels states with strict concealed carry requirements to allow individuals from states with no or lax permit requirements to carry a concealed weapon. (H.R. 38) Opposed by police commissioners and District Attorneys across the country. (12/6/2017)
Voted in favor of H.R. 3354, which among other harmful provisions prohibits federal funding of CDC research on gun violence. (9/14/17)
Voted to end federal checks that prevented 167,000+ veterans deemed “mentally incompetent” from owning or buying firearms. H.R.1181 (3/16/2017)
Voted to prohibit bans of firearms in airports and other public transportation facilities. Griffith Amendment to H.R.2406 (2/26/2016)
Voted to restrict the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms from regulating the sale of ammunition for semi-automatic weapons. H.R.2578 (6/1/2015)

The rally in Patchogue at Lee Zeldin’s Patchogue Office was attended by 400-500 people, with Newsday and other press outlets present. Here are some pictures. Videos on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/dposnett/videos/10213198645013157/
https://www.facebook.com/cindy.morrisproothi/videos/pcb.1848659871864496/1848656928531457/?type=3&theater

shame

big voice in a tiny body: go girl: go girl!

the victims

blood everywhere

Women’s March 2018

David Posnett — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 22:06:56 +0000

Last year I was in Washington DC! Just one little dot on that picture of the mall, the picture that tells it all about facts versus blowhard fake news. Remember Sean Spicer?

This year I went to Sag Harbor with my friends David and Julia Kaback. Julia is a 22 year old senior at Connecticut College. She wants to work in marketing for a non-profit and in particular on environmental issues. She is fired up about politics and Trump! I introduced her to Bridget Fleming, one of the key note speakers at the event, in front of the windmill at the Wharf. We need to engage more 22 year olds, specially women. They are the antidote to racist white males in pickup trucks.

The march was attended by 400+ people by our estimates. It was fun just like last year. Here are some pictures:

SOS: stands for ‘S’ave ‘O’ur ‘S’hore ‘S’ociety ‘S’cience and ‘S’anity (right lower image green sign, created by Julia).

There are 3 video movies which I will post on Facebook.

Remove Lee Zeldin from the US Holocaust Memorial Council

David Posnett — Sat, 19 Aug 2017 07:38:32 +0000

Charlottesville protests

August 17, 2017

We are writing to publicly demand the removal of Congressman Lee Zeldin from the US Holocaust Memorial Council (USHMC) in Washington, D.C.. As a member of the USHMC, as a steward of our collective memory of atrocity, Lee Zeldin has a responsibility to work towards ensuring that identity-based hatred has no place in our society.

Lee Zeldin is failing in this primary responsibility. His official, tepid statement¹ about the hate rally this weekend in Charlottesville is unacceptable in its failure to call out Nazi and white nationalist movements as the cause of the violence. Instead, he effectively put Nazis and those opposing Nazis on equal footing, calling them both “ extremes that try to tear us all apart.” Most recently, Rep Zeldin has come out to support Trump’s defense of the white supremacist mob². While elected officials from both parties reacted immediately to condemn the president’s false equivalency as logically and morally reprehensible, as dangerous for our country, and a threat to democracy, Rep Zeldin placed himself on the wrong side of history. In Zeldin’s willingness to spread blame across white supremacist groups and those who oppose them, he gives outright license to the white supremacist cause and actions.

The Nazis are hearing these messages loud and clear. David Duke praised the president’s reaction. Neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer said: “Trump comments were good… He said he loves us all. Also refused to answer a question about white nationalists supporting him. No condemnation at all. When asked to condemn, he just walked out of the room. Really, really good. God bless him.”

Americans all over the country are relying on our leaders to name and condemn identity-based hate immediately and in no uncertain terms. We are relying as well on institutions like the US Holocaust Memorial to uphold its mission to remind us of what happens to a democratic country when hate is used as the fastest route to power. It is unacceptable to condone—implicitly, through silence, omission, inaction, delayed action, or false equivalencies—acts of hate, while sitting on a board committed to protecting against them. Representative Zeldin should be removed from the US Holocaust Memorial Council until he acts with the integrity that the office demands by

1) demanding that Trump disavow Neo-Nazis, skinheads, the KKK, white nationalism, and fire White House staff who are allies to the alt-right,

2) demanding funding to fight white nationalism,

3) defunding Trump’s anti-immigrant budget proposals, and

4) protecting our immigrant friends and neighbors from deportation.

¹ https://zeldin.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-zeldin-statement-condemning-violence-charlottesville-va

² https://www.facebook.com/RepLeeZeldin/posts/816798751822244

Please sign the following petition: https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/remove-congressman-lee?source=c.em&r_by=18002441

Mara Gerstein, Show Up Long Island

Amy Turner, Zeldin Watch (PEER NYPAN)

Eileen M. Duffy, Let’s Visit Lee Zeldin

David Posnett MD, Resist and Replace

Chris Cangeleri, Organize, Plan, Act

Shoshana Hershkowitz, Suffolk Progressives

Julia Z. Fenster, ATLI, Action Together Long Island

Vincent Geary, Indivisible Patriots of Long Island

Susan Perretti, NCPG, North Country Peace Group

Rebecca Dolber, EEAN, East End Action Network