We need YOU to take action concerning the state budget. The State Senate passed two measures of note that now go to the House-Senate Conference to decide if they will be in the final budget, as these were not in the budget passed by the House.

• $500,000 for job training for ex-prisoners and court involved youth…not a lot of money, but would be the first such targeted funding and first attempt of us to fulfill the jobs part of the Jobs NOT Jails goals. The House had no funding for this in their budget version. (Item 7003-0150)
• Senator Brownsberger’s amendment PASSED to make probation fees discretionary and not someone’s probation to be revoked just because of unpaid fees. With 77,000 probationers paying $55-$65 a month for probation fees this will help ex-prisoners. (Sections 156 — 161)

Additionally, we need your help advocating for Senate Bill 2176, which was passed by the Senate and is currently pending in the House, to raise the threshold for what’s a felony for theft from $250 to $1500. The threshold hasn’t been raised in 29 years, and only two states in the country have lower threshold amounts that we have in MA. We need to ask state representatives to speak to the House Speaker on setting a vote on this bill.

How you can help now on these:

1. Contact your state representatives and ask them to speak to House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Brian Dempsey about supporting these two budget items in the upcoming House-Senate Conference Committee negotiations.
2. Also ask them to speak to Speaker DeLeo about scheduling a vote on Senate 2176, the bill to increase the threshold for what’s a felony on theft from $250 to $1500. You can find the fact sheet for S.B. 2176 here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GREEN-RAINBOW PARTY PRESS ADVISORY

CONTACT PERSON: Danny Factor, electfactor(AT)gmail.com, 978 835 5788

TWO GREEN-RAINBOW PARTY CANDIDATES TO FILE PAPERS IN QUEST TO CREATE A MULTI-PARTY STATE LEGISLATURE

On Friday, May 27th at 10:00 A.M. two Green-Rainbow Party (GRP) candidates for State Representative will present the required number of certified signatures to the Elections Division in Boston (1 Ashburton Place, 17th Floor) to allow their names to be placed on the November, 2016 ballot. Both candidates will speak before the press.

The candidates are:

Charlene DiCalogero, activist to promote democracy by getting corporate money out of politics, halt predatory lending practices and illegal foreclosures, and increase funding for education and public transit. She has a background in education, public policy, conflict mediation and violence prevention, environmental studies and building green communities. (12th Worcester District: Berlin, Boylston, Clinton, Lancaster, and parts of Northborough and Sterling.)

Danny Factor, public interest attorney, civil disobedience environmental activist and former GRP Candidate for Secretary of the Commonwealth who received over 75,000 votes in 2014. (14th Middlesex District: Concord, Carlisle and portions of Acton and Chelmsford)

Both candidates are running on a “people, planet and peace” platform that unlike Democratic and Republican candidates are free from corporate interests. They support a much faster transition from fossil fuels to safe, green, renewable energy than either of the plans supported by the Massachusetts Democratic or Republican parties. They support a full portfolio of economic human rights for all residents of the Commonwealth including the right to healthy food, clean water, an end to homelessness, and universal single-payer health care. They support a more inclusive attitude in our Commonwealth where black lives matter and the rights of diverse groups such as Hispanics, Asians, people with disabilities, the LGBT community, immigrants documented and undocumented and prisoners all matter. They support an expanded view of democracy where campaigns are publicly financed,and elected officials legislate representing a full range of views that reflect our diverse populace.

A recent Gallup Poll found that an incredible 60% of Americans agree that the Democratic and Republican parties do such a poor job representing the American people that a new major party is needed. The Green-Rainbow Party believes that the time has come in Massachusetts for the end of the corporate run two party system. We encourage you to meet Charlene DiCalogero and Danny Factor Friday and hear the message of two candidates who represent the future of our Commonwealth.

Green-Rainbow Party
http://www.green-rainbow.org

CRYPTO PARTY

Wednesday May 25th, 6-9pm @ Parts and Crafts in Somerville (577 Somerville Ave). Wheelchair accessible. Free

Come join our monthly “CRYPTO PARTY” event where we learn about encryption tools and how we can protect our privacy against the surveillance state.

It’s not really a “party”, more like a potluck where we hang out with computers and try to get rid of the fear that the panopticon wants us to live under. Bring your questions, your laptops, phones and devices and together we will help set you up with various tools to encrypt your communication an be anonymous on the internet.

Topics we can cover: PGP email encryption, Tor browser, Tails, secure text messaging/ chats/ video calls, key signing, mesh networking, how to install linux onto your computer… and more!

Around 6:30 we will start introductions, where everyone can say what they’re interested in learning, what they’re available to teach what topics you want to discuss. Then we’ll break into groups depending on what people want to do.

Bring snacks! Bring yourself + a friend and all those questions about “what do I download?” and “what’s a public key?” We are here for you. Join us, learn stuff, and then the next time, you can be a “crypto angel” by teaching a new person something too!

No mansplaining // trans friendly // safer space

MORE INFO: cryptoparty.in/boston

Jobs not jails is having a Lobby day, Wednesday, May 25 at 10:30am, Room 437 at the state house. Continue the campaign for S.2176 which passed in the senate, but is still pending in the house. S.2176 would raise the threshold for being convicted for a felony from the current low $250 up to $1500.

Learn more: http://nationinside.org/campaign/jobs-not-jails/posts/raise-the-felony-threshold

If you can’t make it on the 25th, you can still help by writing a letter in support of raising the larceny threshold.

Monday, July 25, 2016 at 3:00pm
Opening Day of the Democratic National Convention
SOUTH SIDE OF PHILADELPHIA CITY HALL, MARCHING DOWN BROAD STREET

This year’s DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION will cost the city of Philadelphia upwards of $60 million, even though the city purports it cannot house its 650 unsheltered homeless people on an average night nor provide fresh food to the 307,000 Philadelphians who have little to no access in their own neighborhoods.

Join us in demanding an end to UNEMPLOYMENT, HUNGER, HOMELESSNESS, and the PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, and in fighting for access to affordable housing, living wages, and a healthcare system that benefits citizens, not corporations.

On both sides of the political aisle, parties have furthered the criminalization and alienation of the poor and homeless – a phenomenon that must end. This march is necessary to demonstrate that poverty-stricken people do not feel represented by the Democratic Party. The party has been labeled as the poor people’s party, but we demand that they earn it.

#MARCH4OURLIVES2016