6 ms·

If you live in California and you are at all concerned about this, you must call Sen. Feinstein's offices and tell her staff that you oppose the Senator's vote

by jkelsey 10y ago

If you live in California and you are at all concerned about this, you must call Sen. Feinstein's offices and tell her staff that you oppose the Senator's vote to confirm Pompeo and will work to support her opposition in the 2018 midterms (she is up for re-election). http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/washington-dc http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/washington-...?

snarfy 10y ago
For her to lose means a Republican wins. Never gonna happen in California.
- akhilcacharya 10y ago
  That's not necessarily true given how the jungle primary system works. Also I have my doubts that she will run for re-election. Garcetti will probably take a shot.
- digikata 10y ago
  For the CA senate election in 2016, two Democrats ended up running against each other in the general election as the outcome of the open primary. So for Feinstein to lose it doesn't guarantee that at all.
ekianjo 10y ago
You mean this Feinstein ? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/21/dianne-feinstein-defends-nsa-data-collection https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/21/dianne-feinste... https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160408/08381934131/burr-feinstein-release-their-anti-encryption-bill-more-ridiculous-than-expected.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160408/08381934131/burr-...
- jkelsey 10y ago
  Yes that Feinstein. Call her office and exert political pressure. All we do is complain on the Internet about it, then wonder why our politicians don't listen to us. Feinstein doesn't read Hacker News.
  - mhurron 10y ago
    > Call her office and exert political pressure I'd laugh if it wasn't so sad. Call and that's it. Your 'representatives' are not your representatives. There is no pressure that you can place on them.
    - ColinDabritz 10y ago
      They absolutely care if you call, if you show up to town hall meetings. It matters. They are elected officials, and they do ultimately care and worry that if they do unpopular things they will not get re-elected. There is an excellent write up of how this works and why it works from a former congressional aide: https://qz.com/836737/fomer-congressional-staffer-twitter-tips-on-how-to-get-congress-to-listen-to-you-went-viral/ https://qz.com/836737/fomer-congressional-staffer-twitter-ti... Take action! Write your senators numbers on a note by your desk, put them in your phone as contacts. Add your house representatives as well. When you hear about an important issue, make a quick call. Ask them to represent you on upcoming issues. Thank them for their position on issues you support, let them know you are disappointed in them for things you oppose.
      - mhurron 10y ago
        > if they do unpopular things they will not get re-elected. An incumbent has over a 90% chance of being reelected until they decide not to run anymore. They literally do not need to care after they've told whatever lies they needed to tell to get elected the first time.
        richmarr 10y ago
        > An incumbent has over a 90% chance... You're assuming that public officials are automata that don't suffer from risk aversion, don't need to raise money in close races, and don't change their behaviour based on whether they have public opinion behind them. I wouldn't bet on that being true.
        10y ago
wang_li 10y ago
It's already over, he's confirmed. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/senate-confirms-mike-pompeo-as-cia-director/article/2612755 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/senate-confirms-mike-pompe...
- jkelsey 10y ago
  I'm aware. That why I said "oppose the Senator's vote to confirm Pompeo." She needs to be held accountable. Stop spending time responding to comments on the Internet if you haven't called yet. It takes 5 minutes.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
frozenport 10y ago
I'm pretty sure California companies like Google, Palantir, or Cisco will happily provided the technologies for a distopia suvalience state.
- jkelsey 10y ago
  Well, stop looking to profit-focused corporations to take care of us and start using what democracy we've got left.
- golfer 10y ago
  I'm surprised to see you lump Google in with Palantir, of all companies. Google has been fighting back against government overreach since the beginning. They were the first internet company to publish a transparency report, for example [1]. Now copied by all the big players. I remember them fighting back over a decade ago against government requests for search data, when others simply complied. [2] [1] https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/?authuser=1 https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/?authuser=1 [2] https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/response-to-doj-motion.html?m=1 https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/response-to-doj-moti...
  - ForHackernews 10y ago
    > Google has been fighting back against government overreach since the beginning. Hey, no fair! That's our panopticon, not yours!
kabdib 10y ago
If you live outside her jurisdiction, her staff's default response is "You can't vote for me, so I'm going to ignore you." So I write letters that say I'm contributing to her political opponents. You can do this if you live in another state. And money talks louder than votes.

by jkelsey 10y ago

snarfy 10y ago

For her to lose means a Republican wins. Never gonna happen in California.

akhilcacharya 10y ago
That's not necessarily true given how the jungle primary system works. Also I have my doubts that she will run for re-election. Garcetti will probably take a shot.
digikata 10y ago
For the CA senate election in 2016, two Democrats ended up running against each other in the general election as the outcome of the open primary. So for Feinstein to lose it doesn't guarantee that at all.

ekianjo 10y ago

You mean this Feinstein ? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/21/dianne-feinstein-defends-nsa-data-collection https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/21/dianne-feinste... https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160408/08381934131/burr-feinstein-release-their-anti-encryption-bill-more-ridiculous-than-expected.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160408/08381934131/burr-...

jkelsey 10y ago
Yes that Feinstein. Call her office and exert political pressure. All we do is complain on the Internet about it, then wonder why our politicians don't listen to us. Feinstein doesn't read Hacker News.
- mhurron 10y ago
  > Call her office and exert political pressure I'd laugh if it wasn't so sad. Call and that's it. Your 'representatives' are not your representatives. There is no pressure that you can place on them.
  - ColinDabritz 10y ago
    They absolutely care if you call, if you show up to town hall meetings. It matters. They are elected officials, and they do ultimately care and worry that if they do unpopular things they will not get re-elected. There is an excellent write up of how this works and why it works from a former congressional aide: https://qz.com/836737/fomer-congressional-staffer-twitter-tips-on-how-to-get-congress-to-listen-to-you-went-viral/ https://qz.com/836737/fomer-congressional-staffer-twitter-ti... Take action! Write your senators numbers on a note by your desk, put them in your phone as contacts. Add your house representatives as well. When you hear about an important issue, make a quick call. Ask them to represent you on upcoming issues. Thank them for their position on issues you support, let them know you are disappointed in them for things you oppose.
    - mhurron 10y ago
      > if they do unpopular things they will not get re-elected. An incumbent has over a 90% chance of being reelected until they decide not to run anymore. They literally do not need to care after they've told whatever lies they needed to tell to get elected the first time.
      - richmarr 10y ago
        > An incumbent has over a 90% chance... You're assuming that public officials are automata that don't suffer from risk aversion, don't need to raise money in close races, and don't change their behaviour based on whether they have public opinion behind them. I wouldn't bet on that being true.
        10y ago

wang_li 10y ago

It's already over, he's confirmed. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/senate-confirms-mike-pompeo-as-cia-director/article/2612755 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/senate-confirms-mike-pompe...

jkelsey 10y ago
I'm aware. That why I said "oppose the Senator's vote to confirm Pompeo." She needs to be held accountable. Stop spending time responding to comments on the Internet if you haven't called yet. It takes 5 minutes.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

frozenport 10y ago

I'm pretty sure California companies like Google, Palantir, or Cisco will happily provided the technologies for a distopia suvalience state.

jkelsey 10y ago
Well, stop looking to profit-focused corporations to take care of us and start using what democracy we've got left.
golfer 10y ago
I'm surprised to see you lump Google in with Palantir, of all companies. Google has been fighting back against government overreach since the beginning. They were the first internet company to publish a transparency report, for example [1]. Now copied by all the big players. I remember them fighting back over a decade ago against government requests for search data, when others simply complied. [2] [1] https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/?authuser=1 https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/?authuser=1 [2] https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/response-to-doj-motion.html?m=1 https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/response-to-doj-moti...
- ForHackernews 10y ago
  > Google has been fighting back against government overreach since the beginning. Hey, no fair! That's our panopticon, not yours!

kabdib 10y ago

If you live outside her jurisdiction, her staff's default response is "You can't vote for me, so I'm going to ignore you." So I write letters that say I'm contributing to her political opponents. You can do this if you live in another state. And money talks louder than votes.