Thank Wendy Davis for Standing up for Women On Tuesday, something incredible happened on the floor of the Texas State Senate. State Senator Wendy Davis stood for 13 hours straight, speaking out against an abortion bill that would have dramatically restricted women's access to abortions in Texas and endangered women's health. This is exactly the reason we need more women like Wendy Davis in elected office – and it’s the reason why it matters so much that we never give up the fight to elect more pro-choice Democratic women. Join EMILY’s List and tell Wendy Davis: Thank you for your courage in standing up for women in Texas! We are standing behind you.

The House GOP just passed the most extreme national anti-choice bill we've seen in a decade. Not only is this legislation blatantly unconstitutional, it could erase decades of progress for women's rights. The bill restricts a woman's access to legal abortion after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. More importantly, this legislation reflects a dangerous trend: a conservative, regularly all-male, majority in Congress doing everything in their power to restrict women's health options. The time to stand up for women is now. We can't afford to wait any longer and risk losing everything we've fought so hard to achieve. Help us send a message to these GOP extremists: Tell them their anti-choice tactics are dangerous for women, and that you're standing with EMILY's List to help them elect more pro-choice, progressive women to Congress. Take action!

Tell the Republicans: "Repeal your own government-subsidized heath care first, hypocrites!" They're still at it. House Republicans have now voted to repeal health care reform nearly 40 times. They've spent four years ranting and raving about "government health care" and how awful it is. Except, apparently, when it comes to themselves. And their own government-subsidized health care -- for life, after just a few years of service. Send the Republicans a message. Tell them "Repeal your own government-subsidized heath care first, hypocrites!"

If members of the Congress refuse to change the laws to reduce gun violence, then we need to change the members of Congress. That's why Gabby and Mark are asking you to join them in supporting candidates who back commonsense gun violence legislation, and withholding your support from those who don't. Sign your name, send a message to Congress, and pledge to vote against gun violence in 2014

Ken Cuccinelli has said a lot of extreme things, but here’s a new one: In 2011, he suggested that Planned Parenthood was racist in nature. Yes, you read that right. Ken Cuccinelli called Planned Parenthood racist. In a 2011 speech, Cuccinelli asked the audience to "pull out the map of Virginia" and "look at where the abortion clinics are," implying that the motivation behind founding Planned Parenthood was racist in nature. He also circulated a letter to the editor titled "Planned Parenthood decried as 'racist'" in his supporter newsletter, the Cuccinelli Compass. And perhaps worse yet, Cuccinelli refuses to denounce his own running mate's statement that Planned Parenthood has "been far more lethal to black lives than the KKK." But what Ken doesn’t mention is this: the same year he delivered that speech, Planned Parenthood saw over 23,000 patients in Virginia alone. That's 4,117 cervical cancer screenings, 3,883 breast exams, and 5,952 STI exams—all life-saving screenings and treatments that Ken Cuccinelli would try to cut if elected. Ken Cuccinelli and his Tea Party friends aren't going to stop attacking women's health anytime soon. The good news is that the people of Virginia get to make a choice between two candidates this November: extremist anti-choice Cuccinelli, and Terry McAuliffe: a Planned Parenthood-endorsed candidate who wants to protect a woman's right to safe and legal abortion. Sign your name to join Terry McAuliffe's campaign and we'll send you updates and information about how you can help him defeat Ken Cuccinelli this November.

Oklahoma has been devastated by a major tornado, and it's up to all of us to help. Sadly, however, some in Congress are already threatening to use Federal disaster aid as a political weapon. Led, astonishingly. by Oklahoma's own senator, Tom Coburn: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) said just hours after a major tornado ravaged his state that he would use the federal relief funds as a cudgel to force Democrats into accepting more spending cuts to programs like Social Security and Medicare... CQ's public-facing side reported on the comments later that night, saying Coburn will "absolutely" demand spending cuts to offset his state's need for federal aid after Monday's devastating tornadoes. (source) This is not the time for partisan games. This is not the time to score political points. This is the time for all Americans to come together, and help the people of Oklahoma. Tell Tom Coburn and Congress: Don't Hold Oklahoma Emergency Aid Hostage (Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kendall James)

House Republicans have now voted 37 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, aka, "Obamacare." (source) 37 times. Even though repeal has no chance of passing the Senate, and certainly no chance of being signed by President Obama. There is real work to be done, and yet Boehner and the House Republicans have chosen to focus instead on appealing to their lunatic fringe through a series of "Groundhog Day" votes. Enough is enough. Tell Boehner: Enough already with the damned 'Repeal Obamacare' votes

45 Senators were gutless when it came to gun background checks, but... Let's give a shout out to the ones who DID do the right thing, and who had the guts and principles to take a tough vote. Send a message, tell them thanks, and... share, share, share.

The latest, from Left Action: Want to defeat Michele Bachmann in 2014? Click here, tell her to "take a hike," and get ready to make it happen. The DCCC is making defeating her a top priority, and so are we. She is an embarrassment and a danger to America at the same time. Enough is enough. Tell Michele Bachmann to take a hike -- and help defeat her in 2014.

It's hard to put into words just how outrageous and appalling this is: Some residents of the Connecticut community devastated by December's school shooting said they're outraged over robocalls they've received from the National Rifle Association only three months after a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Newtown residents said the automated calls from the NRA began last week and urge people to tell their state legislators to oppose gun control proposals. Some also said they received postcards from the NRA supporting gun owners' rights. Send the NRA a message, and demand that these calls to Newtown stop immediately.

Send Harry Reid a message, and tell him to FIX the filibuster. The "gentlemen's agreement" Reid agreed to at the beginning of this term has been a colossal failure. Republicans have not reduced abuse of the filibuster, they've increased it. It's time for Harry Reid to stop being played for such a fool. It's time for real filibuster reform.

On average, sealers make less than 5 percent of their income from killing seals. So what brings in the other 95 percent? Seafood. Here is how your boycott of Canadian seafood can help: Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans says it will shut down the commercial seal slaughter when Canada's fishing industry asks it to do so. Since more than 60 percent of the fishing industry's seafood exports is to the United States, this gives us a lever. Through the boycott of Canadian seafood we can send a clear message: If Canada's fishing industry would like open access to our U.S. market, it needs to stop the commercial seal slaughter for good. Help us be a million strong for seals! Take the pledge today. Tell Canada: Stop the Baby Seal Slaughter

(Note: For each message sent, Left Action will make a donation to help protect orangutans*) Sometimes it seems like Donald Trump really must stay up nights, figuring out ways to be an even bigger clown: Back in October, everyone's favorite businessman who needs to fire his hair stylist challenged Barack Obama to present his college transcripts and passport records in exchange for a $5 million donation to the charities of the president's choice. Needless to say, the POTUS never took Trump up on his offer. Trump's offer is what likely spurred Bill Maher's commentary on the Jay Leno Show last month, where he mused that he'd be "willing to offer $5 million to Donald Trump that he can donate to a charity of his choice — the Hair Club for Men, the Institute for Incorrigible Douchebaggery — whatever charity," if the Donald could prove that he wasn't the "spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan." (source) And now Trump is suing Maher for the $5 million. For real. Now, it's one thing for Trump to fire back an insult in kind, as one might expect. But it's quite another for him to file a lawsuit that sucks up court time and wastes taxpayer dollars. Send Trump a message, and tell him to drop his absurd lawsuit. Oh, and as a final note -- the "proof" that Trump presented is a short form birth certificate, showing "Fred Trump" as his father. But as birthers like Trump have taught us: 1) Only the long form birth certificate matters; 2) Even when that is presented, it's still not enough proof (at least, to stupid people). Update: Maher's response (click "refresh" if you don't see the video): * For every message sent, Left Action will donate 2 cents to Orangutan Foundation International, an organization supporting the protection of orangutans and the return of ex-captive orangutans to their natural habitat. This is no way implies an endorsement by OFI of this campaign or Mr. Trump's status as an orangutan hybrid, we merely think they are a great organization. And yes, it's okay to send multiple messages if you want.

President Obama has just asked Congress to take a series of steps to fight gun violence, and has taken immediate action himself by signing multiple executive orders. **Write Congress TODAY, stand with President Obama, and demand action against gun violence** Spread the word by sharing this, and let's keep up the pressure. Reasonable people can differ on the exact steps needed, but if we (once again) take no action, we should be ashamed. Send a message, share, share, share, and make this happen!

"If At First the Idea Is Not Absurd, Then There Is No Hope for It" - Albert Einstein Just weeks after bringing America to the brink of fiscal-cliff disaster, Republicans are threatening to do it all over again by refusing to raise the nation's debt limit in February. Their actions threaten to plunge the world into a global recession, and they are already harming America's economy right now by depressing consumer confidence, causing business uncertainty, and slowing the still fragile recovery from the Great Recession. There is a solution: President Obama can authorize the minting of a million-dollar platinum coin. And it's a solution that has the backing of Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman: "There's a legal loophole allowing the Treasury to mint platinum coins in any denomination the secretary chooses. Yes, it was intended to allow commemorative collector's items — but that's not what the letter of the law says. And by minting a $1 trillion coin, then depositing it at the Fed, the Treasury could acquire enough cash to sidestep the debt ceiling — while doing no economic harm at all." (source) Tell President Obama: Mint the trillion dollar coin & end the Republican debt limit threat. Yes, it sounds silly, but as Krugman also points out, President Obama will be faced with, "a choice between two alternatives: one that's silly but benign, the other that's equally silly but both vile and disastrous." The idea also has the support of the Philip Diel, the man who ran the U.S. Mint and helped write the law that would authorize the coin's minting. As Diel points out, while the coin might provoke laughter, it would have essentially zero negative impact: "There are no negative macroeconomic effects. This works just like additional tax revenue or borrowing under a higher debt limit. In fact, when the debt limit is raised, Treasury would sell more bonds, the $1 trillion dollars would be taken off the books, and the coin would be melted." (source) Silly? Yes. But better than the alternative? Undoubtedly. Tell President Obama: Mint the trillion dollar coin & end the Republican debt limit threat.

Tell Boehner: "Stop Holding Up Disaster Aid for Hurricane Sandy Victims" It's shocking and appalling. More than 2 months after Hurricane Sandy brought devastation and shattered the lives of millions of Americans, the House of Representatives still hasn’t approved disaster relief. The Senate moved quickly on a $60 billion dollar aid package, but John Boehner never held a vote in the House. And with a new Congress being sworn in, the Senate vote is wiped out, and work must start all over again. Boehner's callousness was so outrageous, that it's even been condemned by fellow Republicans: Rep. Peter King (R-NY) lit into House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and other House Republicans on Wednesday for adjourning the night before without taking up Hurricane Sandy relief legislation. "It's absolutely disgraceful," King said on CNN. "People in my party, they wonder why they're becoming a minority party. They're writing off New York, they're writing off New Jersey. Well, they've written me off, and they're gonna have a hard time getting my vote, I can tell you that." (source) Millions of Americans are waiting for help. It's time for Boehner to stop playing politics. Tell Boehner: "Stop Holding Up Disaster Aid for Hurricane Sandy Victims"

There were a lot of lies told in the 2012 campaign, but in the end, only one would take the honor as Politifact's "lie of the year." And the winner is... Mitt Romney! It was a lie told in the critical state of Ohio in the final days of a close campaign -- that Jeep was moving its U.S. production to China. It originated with a conservative blogger, who twisted an accurate news story into a falsehood. Then it picked up steam when the Drudge Report ran with it. Even though Jeep's parent company gave a quick and clear denial, Mitt Romney repeated it and his campaign turned it into a TV ad. And they stood by the claim, even as the media and the public expressed collective outrage against something so obviously false. (source) Send Mitt Romney a message, and congratulate him on winning lie of the year! It's not easy taking the top spot, but Mitt Romney proved that even a scrappy young underdog with nothing more than a dream* was up to the task! Hats off to you, Mitt! Send Mitt Romney a message, and congratulate him on winning lie of the year! * And a billion dollars

For too long, America has watched helplessly as the the Senate became the place where good bills go to die. The ridiculous, outdated, undemocratic filibuster meant that majority rule was turned on its head, and the stubbornness of 41 senators was enough to block the hard work and good will of 59 others. And with the Republican minority using the filibuster at an unprecedented pace, work and progress ground to a halt. When the Senate reconvenes in January, the Democratic majority will have the opportunity to fix this asinine rule. And it will be able to do so with a simple majority vote, if it acts in the critical first few days, when Senate rules are set for the term. Harry Reid did not act on this last term, and has since said he regrets it. But he has not yet committed to fix the filibuster this term. Reid's leadership will be essential to making this happen. Send Harry Reid a message. Tell him it's time to fix the filibuster. Some have argued against fixing the filibuster, asserting that it will be needed if the Democrats are again in the minority. However, keeping this rule in place now provides no protection for the future. There is nothing preventing the Republicans from eliminating it themselves if they gain the majority, regardless of what happens this term. Send Harry Reid a message. Tell him it's time to fix the filibuster.