What is the most important for you? I made a list, and I also looked here:

1. Recurring monthly donations: ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, National Immigration Law Center, and the Brennan Center for Justice.

The ACLU aims to initiate legal action against any unconstitutional actions taken by the new administration, and I think that’s most critical.

SPLC keeps watch on hate-oriented organizations and hate crimes, which pose an imminent danger to vulnerable communities on a day to day basis.

NILC supports all sorts of work in support of immigrants, including training and litigation. Based on the reading I’ve been doing, I’m concerned that immigrant communities will be most vulnerable to having their fundamental rights taken away by the government. These are the best hope I can find to defend them.

BCJ works on lots of issues, including voter suppression, which I think is vitally important to fight – voting is our most fundamental right as citizens, and this right should never be abridged.

2. Rotating donations, subject to regular review:
Planned Parenthood (reproductive rights and women’s health)
National Resource Defense Council (environmental defense)
Dream Corps (which has initiatives to support coding education for underserved communities; green jobs; and ending mass incarceration).

Please share organizations you support in the comments.

HEADS UP FOR TOMORROW: Postcards against Bannon. Get a postcard and a stamp and get ready; I’ll post first thing in the morning about this one.

1. I’m making donations to the Protectors at Standing Rock today. Information about the history of the Dakota Access pipeline and the Protectors’ work can be found here, along with many, many ways to help. I’ve also linked an inspiring story about military veterans “deploying” to support the Protectors next week.

2. I’m telling people I love that I’m thankful for them.

May you have a joyous thanksgiving.

These posts have demanded a life of their own; I’m happy to oblige, but I want to keep them sustainable. I’ve started that effort by keeping my actions relatively incremental and small. Now I want to start thinking longer term. For me today that means two things.

1. Asking: what are you willing to do? And just as importantly: what are you not willing to do? (You can see why this makes me feel like I’m stuck in traffic, right?)

2. As I’m contemplating, I’m about to start reading my latest book purchase,

What if you feel like things will not be so easy to talk about? This education route may help you too. I’m white, as is much of my family, and racism is something not every white person can acknowledge. But the need for white people to stand up to racism is pressing. Thankfully Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) has developed a program to help us talk about it. Once again, preparation will help us bring passion into focus.

2. I’m going to exercise tonight. It’s been an exhausting couple of weeks and I’ve been sinking into it. It’s time to take a little better care of myself.

Let me know what you’re doing in the comments if you like.

So today I called Rep. Jason Chaffetz’ office. He’s head of the House Oversight Committee. I said “I urge the Representative, as head of the House Oversight Committee, to investigate whether the President-Elect’s hotel business may make him liable to violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, Article 1, Section 9.” The staffer was very polite and said he’d pass the message along to the Representative. You too can have this polite experience by calling Rep. Chaffetz’ office at 202-225-7751, or by calling the committee’s office at 202-225-5074.

2. Further self-education. There’s a lot of talk about our media diets. I already subscribe to the NYT and the WSJ. A conservative friend also recommended Realclearpolitics.com as a curated source for nonpartisan news. I tend to gravitate toward reading things written from the left. Starting now, I’ll read something from the right every day.

Do you have a favorite reputable media source from the right side of the spectrum that you recommend? Please comment.

Call 202-225-0600. Press 2 to weigh in on the issue. Press 1 if you support Obamacare, 2 if you oppose it. (If you wait, you’ll hear a brief recording about HR-3762, Paul Ryan’s proposal to gut the ACA, and President Obama’s use of his veto power to stop it. Or you can just press your choice right away and leave a message if the mailbox isn’t full….)

2. I’m thinking about information and communication being my focus in the coming week, at a time when we’re going to be with friends and family we don’t see regularly. Information is power. The time to be informed is now. Today, I’m focusing on something foundational: re-reading the Constitution and Amendments.

If you are following along with these action posts and you’ve never done this, don’t let it intimidate you. Understanding what the three branches of government do – and don’t do – is pretty essential right now. Just go through the documents and get what you can out of them. You may find yourself coming back to them in the days ahead. I’m pretty sure I will.

While Emma was serious about her causes, she was also a free-spirited, fun-loving woman. Once she was at a party with other prominent activists, and a young man scolded her for dancing. As the leader of the anarchist movement, he said, she shouldn’t be having fun in public, as her “undignified behavior” might hurt their cause. A furious Emma told him to mind his own business, and defended her right to live with joy. She believed that “the way one lived one’s life every day was the most powerful political statement,” and Emma was committed to living with passion as well as purpose.

Action for today: have fun in public. Even be undignified if you can safely manage it. I’ll be dancing. Hope you have fun.

All of my reps have publicly opposed Bannon. That’s good news. I called them all to say thanks yesterday. Today? More bad news. My friend Adam breaks down why Jeff Sessions has no business heading the Department of Justice now. Tl;dr: racism, unrepentant. Therefore:

2. Calling my reps to ask them to oppose Sessions for AG. It’s especially important to call senators, as his appointment requires Senate confirmation. Go to www.whoismyrepresentative.com to find yours.

3. Going to bed early tonight. This fight will be long.

Weighing it down is news that a national registry of Muslims is being considered by the Trump administration. I desperately want this not to happen, because it’s wrong. But I’m haunted by a talk the late Justice Antonin Scalia gave two years ago. The Korematsu decision (which upheld imprisonment of American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II as constitutional) was “wrong, but you are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again.”

He’s talking about now.

My friends and I, and millions of Americans, don’t feel physically safe right now in our communities, and we’re scared of our government now too.

Let’s not kid ourselves. Let’s keep the fight.

Today here is what I’m doing.

1. Calling my reps (www.whoismyrepresentative.com) to thank them for opposing Bannon and to ask them to oppose any national registry of Muslims.

2. Mailing a paper letter (I know!) to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, enclosing all of the reading materials below, stating my opposition to Bannon and any national registry of Muslims.

3. Asking you to do the same. If your rep hasn’t taken a stand against Bannon yet (Google Bannon + your rep’s name to find out), please urge them to.

Wishing you all lifted hearts and safety, under your own vine and fig tree.