Random Friday Info... Texas Tornadoes, Wildfire Resources, Community, & Get-Togethers
Random Friday Updates
Hi and happy Friday! In positive news, Iowa’s Supreme Court did not overturn women’s right to abortion up to 20 weeks so that’s good. A heartbeat bill was the issue at hand.
Too much disturbing news to summarize (as usual), but we specifically call out Perryman, TX where a tornado has wiped out much of the town. At least 4 have been killed and 75 injured according to my emergency management contacts; with state Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Teams 1 & 2 activated. Team Rubicon, an NGO, is enroute and no doubt many other NGOs are as well. As a reminder, if you’d like to help with the disaster it’s always always always better to send money not stuff. If you’d like to donate, NVOAD has a list of established domestic response NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) that are set up to help with US disasters. That site also points to state VOAD lists as well, and I’m sure Texas has a lot as they’re pretty disaster-prone.'
Wildfire info. Speaking of disasters, a friend and supporter of this work here advises that this is a great app/tool for wildfire season: Watch Duty. It’s great for the western US, and is a nonprofit. Looks very cool. I don’t say that lightly. I’ve been looking at wildfire situational awareness tools since 2000 (my unusual career info is here); most of them promise big stuff and don’t deliver. Also, if you’re looking for official US wildfire info this is the best starting spot: NIFC NICC Intelligence (includes imagery such as smoke monitoring), or check the 10 Geographic Area (GACC) websites. In good US wildfire news, the national IMSR shows we’re nationally at Preparedness Level 2 (of 5). That’s good stuff — for the US. Fire danger outlook info is on this page on the same NIFC NICC site; including some info for Canada (pictured above). It’s not looking so good there.
Who are we including? This week we did a post on how we talk about including Republicans in the Shift the Country work, or other options. Great discussions on that Substack post and input received by email. We haven’t updated our “about” blurbs yet to reflect the feedback; still interested to hear more about what folks think.
Countering authoritarianism with community. This week I listened live to a fantastic talk on authoritarianism (on FB) in which the solution that was given (doing way more to grow community, & doing more with it) is totally in alignment with the approach we’ve already got laid out in Shift the Country’s 5 Things (it’s our Thing 2).
I’m anxious to follow up with the host (Cindy Black at Fix Democracy First), and with the speakers (Vinay Orekondy, Rank the Vote, & Steph Scaglia, Represent Women). To that end, we’re building our own Shift the Country — Community Rising Facebook group for work we can grow to help other Americans do more with community and coalitions (Thing 2).
This shift is cool. This kind of thing shows that our approach is highly unique and deeply needed. Also, the speakers noted that after checking around among US pro-democracy groups, they haven’t yet seen any US group working specifically to grow community to counter authoritarianism. They weren’t aware of Shift the Country as we’re brand new, so we go forward from here… because we are totally planning to do that. Incredible potential.
Other Shift the Country updates. Finally, we’re continuing to roll out our Shift the Country nonprofit work here. It’s slooooowwwwwwww. Our engagement has been pretty thin so far, but by gosh we’re persistent.
One volunteer said this week that our overall plan “is pretty ambitious.” It’s true. It’s based in science, methodology, society, and so on, though. It’s totally reachable. Any big, huge idea is doable if you make plans, have resources, and execute the plans. That’s how we got to the moon. It wasn’t magic. It was planning, science, cooperation, and coordination. And of course a lot of money.
With that, we’d like to start growing some action this summer in various states and locales. I’ll be working on Iowa (holler if you’re interested in doing this too), and we’ll hopefully coordinate with all of you on activity in other states. So far we’re talking with folks scheming options in TX, MI, AZ, IA, and VA. I’m also writing up an activity/idea/community/etc. list we can reference. And working with volunteers on some easy-to-use summaries of what we’re fixing to do.
We’re getting great interest. Lots of neat conversations. We’re getting a bit of a volunteer base. The idea is to start getting activity, to grow it throughout 2023, and to hit critical mass sometime in late 2023 or early 2024 to make shift happen both in local areas and nationally. That said, we’re in this shift for the long term — not just for 2024.
For now, we’ll build traction and eventually build momentum as we start to get the word out more, and if we get folks engaging in our activities. You can help! Share our stuff like this post, and also join in on a Zoom call (listed below) to see what might be of interest. We also have a new, tiny-but-growing Facebook community you can join. And we need funds! Donate on the website or through ActBlue. Be safe and be well!
Upcoming Shift the Country Get-Togethers on Zoom
Register via Eventbrite:
Sunday, June 18, afternoon/evening — Let’s Talk National Security. Informal discussion about national security & what we can do about it in light of the Trump federal indictment & Republican support for his action. Republicans are actively undermining our national security with their actions. Bring your questions & concerns.
June 27, Tuesday, evening — Ramping Up Business Pressure to Make Shift Happen. Brainstorming & ideas to ramp up work to pressure/partner with business in preparation for 2024 election. We’ve got lots of time to build up a plan and to implement it.
June 29, afternoon — Team Call for Volunteers. All are welcome. Working call to get into ongoing projects, to brainstorm, to make progress, & to come up with new stuff.