The Sustainable Action Network (SAN) Endorsements…
I am proud to join the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) to officially endorse Elizabeth Warren for president.
I have backed her for years now anyway and though she is by far the best to become a great POTUS, even if she lands the VEEP nod, she will be a vital part to that ticket.
Also, she’s rising in the polls, introducing plan after plan, and showing that progressive ideas are popular! We’re now working to help state and local elected officials and Democratic Party leaders who want to endorse her. Together we’re organizing events and making a media splash. Want to get on board? Click here to sign up!
Mid-Year Special Election Winners Report
Congratulations to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) endorsed state and local candidates who won their recent elections, including Ali Brown, a champion for mass transit who won her primary for Indianapolis City Council; Debbie Ortega, an affordable housing activist who won re-election to Denver City Council; Corryn Kronnagel, who won her primary for Magisterial District Judge in Morrisville, Pennsylvania; Lloyd Snook, who has successfully argued death penalty cases before the Supreme Court, won his primary for City Council in Charlottesville, Virginia; and Angela Riley, a community advocate, won her primary for City Council in Binghamton, New York. We also want to give a special shout to our endorsed candidates Yasmine Taeb, who came very close to winning a strong primary challenge to a conservative Democratic incumbent in a Virginia state senate race, and to Tiffany Caban, whose transformative race for Queens district attorney is still too close to call.
Remember that if you want to join our winners list, you need to fill out our endorsement questionnaire! Click here if you are running for local office, click here if you are running for state office, and click here if you are running for federal office.
We had a terrific time training candidates in June in Charlotte, North Carolina. The training took place in Catawba Brewery, a beautiful local venue. We had a diverse group of 85 candidates attend (61% people of color and 65% women--both record highs!). They included candidates running for state legislature, city council, school board, and even Congress. We also had candidates from other states in the region, like Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas, and Georgia. As Vickie Holt, running for state senate in South Carolina, said, "The speakers were so well-prepared and made their presentations with enthusiasm and obvious knowledge on their topics. I also really enjoyed the interaction encouraged throughout the training…I spent time with powerful, determined progressives who are ‘in it to win it’!” Janet Dudding, running for State House in Texas, said, "I have gone to a lot of candidate trainings to get ready for my first-ever run for office. The PCCC training is the best I have ever attended. I received more details on how to message, fundraise, pivot, research- all aspects I had never heard about before the training. I highly recommend it." We also trained 48 candidates in Concord, New Hampshire in May in partnership with Lead NH. We’re now preparing for our next training in Orlando, FL from July 27-28. If you want to apply, click here. If you want to nominate rising progressive stars, please click here.
Recent polling on Pharma…
You may be interested in our recent polling on prescription drugs. We polled three swing-to-red House districts in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, and the results were shocking (in a good way). We found overwhelming bipartisan support for Medicare drug price negotiation. We even found overwhelming support for the idea that the government should break monopolies on drugs so that other companies can manufacture generic alternatives. (In South Carolina, 71% of Trump voters agreed with this idea!) Check out the results in this editorial that I co-authored with Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works.
Stop Horse Racing and The Deaths at The Racetrack
Its noted that between 600 and 800 horses are either injured or killed yearly within the industry. This practice has been able for years and years and nothing has changed except one thing. Innocent horses are dying.
Horse racing in just Santa Anita alone has killed over 30 horses within close proximity THIS YEAR.
Continuing to allow this awful sport is basically premeditated murder of these animals with no voice.
Horses are gentle giants who deserve better lives than to be overworked and raced only to die to broken bones, minor injuries that can be cured, and more that are undisclosed and covered up.
No one can deny that 30 horses have died and that is 30 too many. A famous trainer has been banned after the 30th death, but that isn't enough. I am standing to be the voice of these beautiful animals who do not deserve such a life.
Adults bet on which horse crosses first, while some of their opponents crash to the ground before finishing.
Just since Christmas, 31 racehorses, including former Breeders’ Cup winner Battle of Midway, have died at California’s world-famous Santa Anita Park.
Still, what’s happening there is no anomaly. Over the past 11 years, Santa Anita has averaged 50 dead racehorses annually; every 12-month period but one (when “only” 37 died) saw at least 40 corpses. What’s more, Santa Anita can’t even claim it’s heading in the right direction as two of the three worst years were ‘15-’16 and ‘16-’17.
Sign and share today to urge Santa Anita to stop the senseless death of racehorses by closing down its track.
Nationally, through our seminal FOIA reporting, Horseracing Wrongs has documented over 5,000 confirmed kills on U.S. tracks just since 2014; we estimate that over 2,000 horses are killed racing or training across America every year. Over 2,000. Imagine that. But there's more: Each year, hundreds more die back in their stalls from things like colic and laminitis, or are simply "found dead" in the morning. And perhaps worst of all, the vast majority of has-been (or never-were) equine "athletes" are brutally and violently bled-out and butchered at Canadian and Mexican slaughterhouses - some 12,000-15,000 Thoroughbreds alone each year. In short, the American horseracing industry is engaged in wholesale carnage - not hyperbole, carnage.
More horses will die if Santa Anita is not closed down. Sign today to tell the owners to save lives by immediately shutting down the track.
Ziggy Marley: Say No to Abused Horses and Cancel Your Performance at Del Mar Racetrack
Ziggy Marley is scheduled to perform during the kickoff weekend for Del Mar Racetrack’s summer meet.
Earlier this year, Del Mar’s sister track, Santa Anita Park, garnered unwanted national attention with a string of 29 racehorse deaths. But what most people don’t know is that death at the track is, in fact, business as usual: Santa Anita has averaged 50 dead horses annually over the past decade. At Del Mar, 73 horses have been killed in just the past five seasons. At all California tracks, over 5,000 deaths since 1998.
Nationally, through our unprecedented FOIA reporting, Horseracing Wrongs has documented over 5,000 kills on U.S. tracks just since 2014; we estimate that over 2,000 horses are killed racing or training across America every year. Over 2,000. Imagine that. But it’s even worse: hundreds more die back in their stalls from things like colic and laminitis. And perhaps worst of all, the vast majority of has-been (or never-were) equine "athletes" are brutally and violently slaughtered once their so-called careers have come to an end - 15,000 Thoroughbreds alone each year. Taken together, it is no exaggeration to say that the American horse racing industry is engaged in wholesale carnage. Again, not hyperbole, carnage.
But the killing is only a part of the story. There is, too, the unremitting confinement and isolation - the typical racehorse is kept locked - alone - in a tiny 12x12 stall for over 23 hours a day; the absolute control and utter subjugation - lip tattoos, nose chains, mouth bits, and whips; the commodification - racehorses are literal chattel, things to be bought, sold, traded, and dumped whenever and however their people decide; the negation - all the horse’s natural instincts and desires are thwarted, creating an almost unfathomable suffering in these innately intelligent, sensitive creatures.
Ziggy Marley, you are an iconic musician, and an activist who fights for love, peace, equality, and justice. We are humbly and respectfully asking that your compassion be extended to these beautiful animals. Be the first to do for racehorses what the SeaWorld boycotts did for orcas, and in the process, become a model for all others to follow. Please, Ziggy, cancel your performance at Del Mar Racetrack.
"Corporations Are People Too My Friends."
Our companies are known for creating products that enhance people's lives. Through Sunset Corporation of America and its companies, we’re equally dedicated to improving lives. Our commitment extends to helping local communities, fostering better educational systems, supporting the arts and culture, helping disadvantaged youth, protecting and improving the environment, animal welfare, wildlife issues and encouraging employee volunteerism.
The Sustainable Action Network (SAN), A Don Lichterman non-profit organization dedicated to building a global community raising awareness of corruption, injustice and the need for action across a full range of issues impacting people and animal/wildlife welfare around the world, such as conservation, climate change, campaign law, lobbying, government action and rescue work. SAN’s vision is to create safer world, free from political, environmental, and social oppression, where all the inhabitants of Earth can live in harmony within their own natural environments.
Our companies are known for creating products that enhance people's lives. Through Sunset Corporation of America and its companies, we’re equally dedicated to improving lives.
Our commitment extends to helping local communities, fostering better educational systems, supporting the arts and culture, helping disadvantaged youth, protecting and improving the environment, animal welfare, wildlife issues and encouraging employee volunteerism.
Activism and Sustainability:
Grammy District Advocacy
Privatization
Voters Issues & Gerrymandering
Private Prisons & the War on Drugs
Finance, Housing & the Economy
Corporate Responsibility:
Candidates, Bills, Laws & Protections
Wildlife & Oceania
Labeling & Transparency
Comprehensive Captivity & Hunting Results Databases
